NBC Reporter Rebuts Trump Attack on Letitia James: ‘NY AG Doesn’t Really Have Jurisdiction Over Day-to-Day Crime’ in NYC

NBC legal correspondent Tom Winter rebutted one of former President Donald Trump’s lines of attack on New York Attorney General Letitia James on Wednesday after James filed a lawsuit alleging Trump committed fraud in the state.

“And to distract and talk about New York City crime and something outside the purview of today’s today’s allegations in a civil case,” noted MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell as she introduced Winter.

“I do want to tell you, we reached out to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York and a spokesperson for Damian Williams said they’re going to decline to comment for now on this criminal referral that the attorney general is sending over to their office in the IRS criminal division, who we’ve also reached out to for comment,” began Winter, noting that James said she referred the allegations that Trump committed fraud by over evaluating properties and assets to the IRS for a criminal investigation.

“As far as the statement from the former president about crime in New York, we should be clear that the New York attorney general really doesn’t have jurisdiction over day-to-day crime in New York City,” Winter continued, adding:

It’s more of a civil office. There are certain instances, and for the purposes of brevity, I’ll forego them where they could bring criminal charges from the New York AG’s office. But that’s not really a particular consideration

Winter was referring to Trump blasting James on Truth Social, saying:

Another Witch Hunt by a racist Attorney General, Letitia James, who failed in her run for Governor, getting almost zero support from the public, and now is doing poorly against Law & Order A.G. candidate, highly respected Michael Henry. I never thought this case would be brought – until I saw her really bad poll numbers. She is a fraud who campaigned on a “get Trump” platform, despite the fact that the city is one of the crime and murder disasters of the world under her watch!

Winter also broke down the merits of James’s case against Trump, arguing this was about records and statements that Trump and his organization made to various banks, insurance companies, and the state of New York – many of which he argued are easily proven to be false.

He then ran through some of Trump’s assets and the evaluations Trump gave those assets, which James claims are false.

“And I think another key part of this penalty, we’re obviously focusing on the fact that the president may not be able to run his company anymore in New York City, as well as his kids and this $250 million payment,” Winter continued, noting James is suing Trump for a $250 million.

“But also, he will not be able, if this lawsuit is successful and the penalties are applied to get a loan from any bank registered with the New York State Department of Finance for the next five years. I’m trying to think of banks that aren’t registered with the New York State Department of Finance,” he explained, adding:

How far does that go? What implications does that have and what does that mean as far as getting access to any major bank? That’s something that we’re trying to figure out. But that strikes to me to be potentially a very significant penalty for the president. That has implications far beyond New York.

Watch the full clip above via MSNBC.

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