Twice-impeached ex-president Donald Trump called New York Attorney General Letitia James a “lunatic” after she requested a judge penalize him with a $370 million fine following his civil fraud trial.
While Trump’s fate remains unknown since the trial ended last month, James made her penalty request in a post trial brief on Friday, according to The New York Times. The judge who presided over Trump’s penalty phase civil trial for inflating his net worth to obtain loans from banks and insurers will handle James’ request.
James initially estimated the amount was $250 million.
The former president and his company were found to be at fault before the trial began, and the three-month-long courtroom proceedings have been held to determine the amount of the penalty.
According to ABC News, James also requested the judge bar Trump for life from the real estate industry, as well as two of his colleagues from the Trump Organization.
“James also requested that Trump and his two former deputies at the Trump Organization, Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey McConney, be barred for life from participating in the New York real estate industry.”
After the four-time indicted former president learned of James’ request, he went off on an unhinged rant on Truth Social and called James a “lunatic.” He also accused the attorney general of conspiring with President Joe Biden to commit election interference, one of the crimes he was indicted for.
“This is the Lunatic A.G. that’s prosecuting me,” he wrote. “Lawyers say there is No Way this should be allowed to happen. She is working closely with Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ. in order to harm his Political Opponent. Election Interference!”
The former star of “The Celebrity Apprentice” didn’t end his rant there. He shared another post in all capital letters claiming, “I did nothing wrong” and “My financial statements are great.”
Trump also claimed James and the judge devalued his Mar-a-Lago property and accused them of prosecutorial misconduct. “They should pay me,” he wrote, adding, “DOJ witch hunt!” James’ lawsuit is a case brought by the state of New York, not the federal Department of Justice.
Trump shared another post that read, “Letitia James is doing this to me, No Victims, No Crime, Great Financial Statements, yet Murder and other Violent Crime is RAGING OUT OF CONTROL in New York, as People and Businesses flee, in Record Numbers, to other States!”
X users responded to the news on social media. One user replied, “Like Trump has that kind of money.” Another wrote, “And the grifting from his idiot supporters will begin in 3…”
Trump’s attorney, Christopher M. Kise, called James’ request, “unconscionable, unsupported by the evidence, untethered from reality and unconstitutionally excessive.” The Trump Organization called the request a “gross overreach” that should “gravely” concern New York’s business community.
The civil fraud trial against Trump began in October and concluded last week, and lawyers are expected to make closing arguments next week as Judge Arthur F. Engoron presides.
