In a Wednesday court filing, former President Donald Trump is challenging a federal judge’s decision to dismiss his lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James, the Daily Mail reports.
Trump also went on the attack on his social media app, Truth Social, saying, ”I believe that racist and corrupt A.G. James is pushing businesses and wealthy people to leave N.Y. for friendly states. Not sustainable by [New York state].”
Filed in December, the suit was brought by Trump and the Trump Organization and alleged that James’ multi-year civil investigation was politically motivated and lacked a justifiable legal basis, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Trump said that James, a Democrat, showed ”severe animus” toward him before she became attorney general and stated publicly, both during and after her campaign, that she planned to investigate his family.
On Friday, District Judge Brenda Sannes ruled that Trump and the Trump Organization did not prove that James began her investigation in bad faith or as a way to retaliate against Trump for his political beliefs.
Sannes was appointed to the bench in 2014 by then-President Barack Obama.
The judge’s ruling was the latest in a series of legal setbacks Trump has encountered in his attempts to block James’ investigation, according to the Daily Mail.
The former president was forced to pay James’ office $110,000 last month as a requirement to lift a contempt charge that was brought after he failed to produce personal financial documents that prosecutors were seeking in the inquiry.
The day before Sannes’ decision, another judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York ruled that Trump and his two eldest children must testify in James’ investigation.
Earlier this year, James said she had evidence that the Trump Organization had knowingly used misleading financial statements for at least 10 years to obtain favorable loans and deals.
The company would allegedly overstate the value of its assets to seem better to banks and then reduce them to lower its tax bills.
Last Thursday, judges on the appellate division of New York state’s trial court upheld a February decision by state Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron that required Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump to testify in James’ investigation.
Engoron had rejected Trump’s claims that being deposed would violate his constitutional right against self-incrimination.
Trump and two of his adult children were subpoenaed by James’ office at the end of last year.
Via Newsmax