New York Attorney General Letitia James is calling for sanctions against former President Donald Trump and his adult children for allegedly giving false answers in response to her $250 million lawsuit.
Lawyers for Trump and several of his adult children filed "verified answers" to James's sprawling lawsuit against them last week, but she contends they made "demonstrably false denials" in a response that was "deficient in a host of ways." She is asking Judge Arthur Engoron to hold a conference to mull the sanction request.
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“A cursory review of the Verified Answers reveals that a number of the denials are demonstrably false and actually contradict sworn statements by the Defendants in other proceedings,” James's office wrote in a letter to Engoron.
In some of their answers, lawyers for the Trumps wrote that they lacked "sufficient knowledge" to key questions posed against them or gave false replies in the responding legal brief to James's suit, the letter alleges. One example given was how Trump's team rejected James's characterization that Trump served as an "inactive president" of his business empire during his White House days.
“But the allegation that Mr. Trump was the ‘inactive president of the Trump Organization,’ while in the White House, is taken directly from his own sworn testimony in Galicia v. Trump on October 18, 2021,” the letter from James read. In testimony for Galicia v. Trump, the former president said, "I would say that I was an inactive president and now I’m active again," per her letter.
James brought forth the $250 million civil lawsuit against Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump last September, alleging the Trump Organization engaged in fraudulent business practices. She also sought other penalties, such as a ban on the Trumps running New York businesses, and relayed a criminal matter to the Justice Department. Her office has been investigating the Trump empire since 2019.
Engoron previously mulled sanctions against the Trumps for reiterating legal arguments in court proceedings that he had rejected.
“The Court has already admonished Defendants and their counsel for their continued invocation of meritless legal claims but exercised its discretion in not imposing such sanctions, ‘having made its point.’ It does not appear that this point was taken, however, and OAG would ask the Court to renew the issue,” the letter added.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and pointed to past remarks from James in which she vowed, "We’re definitely going to sue him, we’re gonna be a real pain in the a**," before filing the suit. James has countered that the courts have sided with her in many of her dust-ups with the Trumps.
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"The Democrat D.A.’s, Attorney Generals, and Prosecutors are very DANGEROUS to the well-being of our Country. Many are deranged and only interested in pleasing the Fake News Media and the Democrat Party. Fair and True Justice means NOTHING in our Country anymore. I am being hit by so many DEMOCRAT Prosecutors," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Tuesday.
Earlier this year, a judge rejected Trump's bid to toss out James's lawsuit. The former president has since dropped the bid in court, but he has remained adamant that he will continue to push back against her suit in the courtroom.
A video that surfaced Tuesday showed Trump pleading his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination over the summer during a deposition before James's team. The deposition came before she filed the suit against him.