Former President Donald Trump said Monday that Democrats in Washington are pulling the strings on New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil fraud prosecution against him to derail his campaign to topple President Biden.
Speaking to reporters at a Manhattan courthouse, Mr. Trump said the legal threat to his business empire is being directed by the Justice Department.
“It all comes down from the DOJ that totally coordinated this in Washington, because I’m the leading [Republican] candidate and I’m leading Biden by 10 points,” Mr. Trump said. “And I’m leading the Republicans by 50 and 60 points — they say it’s over. This has to do with election interference, plain and simple.”
The no-jury trial will consider whether Mr. Trump should pay as much as $250 million in damages for allegedly manipulating the value of his properties and assets to gain financial advantages on loans and insurance policies.
Mr. Trump said there is “no victim” in the case and he’s done nothing wrong.
“There was no crime,” he said. “The crime is against me because we have a corrupt District Attorney, we have a corrupt Attorney General. They’re trying to damage me so that I don’t do as well as I’m doing in the election. Our country has gone to hell. We have a man running our country who has no clue. [Look at] what they’ve done with open borders, what they’ve done with interest rates and taxes. It’s a disgrace. So what we have here is an attempt to hurt me in an election.”
The Washington Times reached out to the Justice Department but did not hear back. The Justice Department is prosecuting two criminal cases against Mr. Trump, including charges that he tried to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and that he mishandled classified documents upon leaving office.
Ms. James said Mr. Trump “committed persistent and repeated fraud” and that she will prove those claims.
“My message is simple. No matter how powerful you are, no matter how much money you think you may have, no one is above the law,” she told reporters.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.