Letitia James Made Big Error in Trump Fraud Case, Retired Judge Tells MSNBC: ‘You Just Don’t Do That’
Retired New York City Judge George Grasso had some harsh words for NY attorney general Letitia James following news that Donald Trump no longer had to pay a $500 million penalty for his 2024 civil fraud convictions.
On Thursday, an appeals court threw out the “excessive” fine imposed by Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron, but maintained the judgment that the Trump Organization did, in fact, engage in business fraud.
Trump spun the ruling on Truth Social by claiming “TOTAL VICTORY” and repeating his claims of “a Political Witch Hunt, in a business sense, the likes of which no one has ever seen before.”
Grasso told MSNBC’s Katy Tur, “So, the Trump team has a lot to be happy about today, and the New York state attorney general, not so much.”
Grasso continued:
And it didn’t help her, by the way, that she campaigned and mentioned essentially going after Trump. You can’t do that. I ran for district attorney in Queens county in 2023. In a million years, I would have never said, ‘If I’m elected, this particular person is going to be in, you know, I’m going to really scrutinize,” you just don’t do that. Now, does President Trump do that kind of thing? Yeah, all the time. And now with this particular attorney general. But does it make it right? No. And we got to take a step back and stop doing this in this country.
James issued a statement Thursday maintaining that the Appellate Division, First Judicial Department of the New York State Supreme Court, “today affirmed the well-supported finding of the trial court: Donald Trump, his company, and two of his children are liable for fraud.
“The court upheld the injunctive relief we won, limiting Donald Trump and the Trump Organization officers’ ability to do business in New York. It should not be lost to history: yet another court has ruled that the president violated the law, and that our case has merit.
“We will seek appeal to the Court of Appeals and continue to protect the rights and interests of New Yorkers.”
Watch the clip above via MSNBC.
