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NEW YORK – Former President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the New York Attorney General, claiming that his long-term civil investigation into his business practices was an abuse of authority that should be stopped, has been dismissed by a federal judge in Syracuse, New York.
The former president’s attempt to stop Attorney General Letitia James’s (D) investigation into the Trump Organization and its dealings with lenders and tax authorities was rejected in a 43-page decision released Friday by U.S. District Judge Brenda K. Sannes.
In a statement, James said his office “will continue this investigation without fail,” and suggested that Trump has made efforts to “choose how the law applies” to him.
Trump is suing the New York Attorney General to try to stop the investigation into his company
“Time and time again, the courts have made it clear that Donald J. Trump’s baseless legal challenges cannot stop our legal investigation into his financial business and that of the Trump Organization,” James said in a statement.
Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, said the decision would be appealed and the judge erred in refusing to overturn a federal legal rule known as “younger abstention” that leaves a case in the state court if there is an ongoing proceeding. Habba argued in court documents that James’ efforts were so unfair that the federal judge should have intervened to stop him.
“There is no doubt that we will appeal this decision,” Habba said in a statement. “If Mrs. James’s blatant conduct and harassment investigation does not comply with the bad faith exception to Younger’s abstention doctrine, I cannot imagine a scenario that would do so.”
State court judge Arthur Engoron, who has overseen a series of disputes between James and Trump’s team, has already refused to stop the investigation. Engoron granted James’ earlier requests to enforce subpoenas that Trump and other parties did not initially comply with.
Trump is suing the New York Attorney General to try to stop the investigation into his company
Engoron recently despised Trump for not handing over the records he was ordered to give to James in February. The contempt order was lifted after fulfilling a set of conditions related to the documentation of a search of the records, which he said do not exist, although the attorney general is still seeking additional documentation from Trump.
Trump’s lawyers previously said in court documents that James’ statements about the election campaign in which he promised to prosecute Trump and his company if elected were disqualified from overseeing an impartial investigation and that his investigation has political motivations.
Trump claimed the investigation is a violation of his constitutional rights.
“His mission is guided solely by political animation and a desire to harass, intimidate, and retaliate against a private citizen he considers a political opponent,” Trump’s lawyers argued in their civil lawsuit.
Sannes noted in the ruling that Trump may have filed his claims against James years ago in federal court when he sued the Manhattan District Attorney for subpoenas for his tax returns and related records. After reaching the Supreme Court, a Trump accounting firm provided the documents to the criminal investigators.
The district attorney is overseeing a parallel criminal investigation into whether Trump illegally filed false property valuations in an attempt to obtain better loan rates and reduce his tax liability. James’ office has partnered with the district attorney’s team and is providing additional resources.
Although Trump has not been indicted, District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) said the investigation is continuing, even after two senior prosecutors leading the investigation abandoned the case in protest earlier this year. Last year, Trump Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg and the Trump Organization were charged last year under Bragg’s predecessor with an alleged 15-year tax evasion scheme.
Trump maintains his innocence in connection with both investigations. Weisselberg and company have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial in the New York Supreme Court.
Friday’s ruling dismissing the lawsuit also says interrupting James’ case would be an undue violation of the authority of the elected office. James, the state’s top attorney, has already described the lawsuit as one of the former president’s many delaying tactics.
The dismissal comes a day after a Manhattan court of appeals ordered the former president and two of his adult children, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., to testify in James’ investigation.