Donald Trump lashes out after NY AG Letitia James information fraud lawsuit

Former President Donald Trump called New York Attorney General Letitia James “racist” and “grossly incompetent” in an outraged social media post on Thursday, a day after she filed a full-scale fraud lawsuit against him and his family members.

Trump’s post on the Twitter-like platform Truth Social called James “a terrible AG when it comes to protecting the people of New York State” and praised her Republican campaign rival Michael Henry as a “strong crimefighter.” He also shared a series of attacks on James from news sources and other social media accounts.

In addition, Trump released numerous messages appearing to support the view that he should run for president again in the 2024 election cycle. One headline reads, “Trump should announce candidacy before midterms.”

James announced a civil lawsuit on Wednesday accusing Trump, three of his adult children and some of his longtime business partners of years of filing fraudulent accounts to obtain various financial benefits. The 220-page civil complaint, filed in Manhattan Superior Court, seeks at least $250 million in damages.

She also said her office sent a criminal referral to the IRS and the Manhattan Attorney’s Office to investigate possible federal crimes, including bank fraud and lying to financial institutions.

A spokeswoman for James’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s posts.

Trump’s spate of online posts came as he faced several other legal challenges, including a Justice Department criminal investigation that prompted FBI agents to search his Florida home last month.

On Wednesday, a federal appeals court sided with the DOJ in the Trump case. It allowed federal agents to continue their review of about 100 classified documents seized in the raid on the Palm Beach residence Mar-a-Lago.

Trump’s posts about James were hardly his first salvo against the New York official, who was struggling with promises to investigate the then-president. In a Truth Social post Wednesday afternoon, Trump denounced the new lawsuit as “another witch hunt by a racist attorney general,” referring to James, who is black.

But his latest attacks on the AG have come in a series of more than three dozen posts and reposts that alternately reinforced flattering articles about the ex-president and attacked some of his perceived political enemies.

He shared links from conservative news outlets with headlines like “Trump is the tallest man alive” and “History calls Donald Trump.” He also shared negative messages about various figures, including Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, CNN host Don Lemon and others.

In one post, Trump took aim at his former Vice President Mike Pence when he again falsely claimed that widespread fraud led to his 2020 election defeat by President Joe Biden. The news came in response to the passage by the House of Representatives of an election-process reform bill that Trump claimed proved that Pence could have rejected the states’ electoral votes for Biden rather than allow Congress to confirm them.

Trump also shared numerous messages appearing to support the view that he should run for president again in the 2024 election cycle.

Trump has indicated he is considering another offer from the White House, but has not officially announced a campaign. But on Thursday he re-posted the conservative blog headlines “Trump Is Running,” “Washington Establishment Fears Trump’s Second Term,” and “Donald Trump Must Be Republican Nominee for 2024.”