Former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York said on Friday that Democratic Attorney General Letitia James of New York never should have brought the civil fraud case against former President Donald Trump.
New York Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay a fine of $354 million in February, after ruling that Trump was liable for fraud in September 2023. Cuomo told HBO host Bill Maher that the case would never have been brought against anyone else. (RELATED: ‘Lower Than Criminal Standard’: Turley Sounds Alarm About Key Jury Instruction Being Pushed By Alvin Bragg’s Team)
“The Attorney General’s case in New York, frankly, should have never been brought and if his name was not Donald Trump, and he if he wasn’t running for president, I’m the former AG in New York, I’m telling you that case would have never been brought, and that’s what is offensive to people,” Cuomo said during a discussion with Maher and former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois in “Real Time With Bill Maher: Overtime.”
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James promised to investigate Trump during her 2018 campaign for the office, during which she labeled him an “illegitimate president.” She sued Trump in September 2022, alleging he overstated the value of real estate holdings in order to obtain loans.
The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct is investigating an alleged conversation real estate attorney Adam Leitman Bailey said he had with Engoron in which he urged to “get it right” in a Feb. 16 interview with NBC New York, the outlet reported.
Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives for his criminal trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City, on May 29, 2024(Photo by DOUG MILLS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Prior to Cuomo’s comments on the civil fraud case, Maher criticized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg over the indictment of Trump on 34 counts of falsification of business records. Trump was convicted on all counts May 30.
“I was always with you on the one in New York, the hush money trial,” Maher told Cuomo. “I don’t think they should have brought that one. It was just always going to look like a sex case and people were always just going to look at it that way.”
The state of New York targeted the National Rifle Association after the 2018 shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, with financial regulators pressuring banks and insurance companies to cease doing business with the Second Amendment advocacy organization. Cuomo himself urged companies to “revisit” their relationship with the NRA in an April 20, 2018, post on Twitter, while labeling the group a “terrorist organization.”
The Supreme Court unanimously allowed the NRA to pursue First Amendment claims against the state May 30.
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