CNN’s John King Describes Trump Org. as ‘A Sham Built on Lies’ in Brutal Recap of NY AG’s Allegations

CNN’s John King began his coverage of New York Attorney General Letitia James’s lawsuit against former President Donald Trump and his adult children, filed Wednesday, with a brutal recap of the allegations of James’s allegations against the Trump family.

“Letitia James, outlining a nearly 300-page civil lawsuit filed against the former president of the United States, Donald Trump, and his children, alleging that the Trump Organization is a sham built on lies,” King began, recapping the allegations.

“Lies to banks, lies to insurance companies, lies to the state of New York about the valuation of Trump Organization properties,” King continued.

“She is seeking here to limit Donald Trump’s ability to do business in New York, to limit his family’s ability to do business in New York. And she is seeking damages to she alleges the fraud amounted to more than $250 million worth over a decade,” King continued.

“Let’s begin our coverage with CNN’s Kara Scannell, who was there at that announcement. Kara, you asked the question, was the attorney general willing to settle this? She said past efforts have failed. Her door is open. But walk through the highlights of this. She called it The Art of the Steal, and she was scathing in what she said was essentially a family-run scam,” he added.

“Yeah, that’s right, John. So Letitia James just finished the press conference here where she outlined what she said was a ten-year fraudulent scheme. She said that the former president and his adult children, Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump along with their chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg and others, had helped inflate the valuations of their assets by billions of dollars, all to enrich the former president,” began Scannell, adding:

She explained that in this scheme, that this fraud touches all aspects of the company’s business, saying that there were more than 200 entities and examples of valuations that had been inflated over time, including everything from the golf courses to apartments to properties that they owned, including some of the big skyscrapers here in Manhattan.

And now Letitia James has said that she is referring potential allegations of bank fraud and tax-related frauds to the IRS and to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

“We’ve reached out to those offices and have not heard back so far. And as you say, she is seeking $250 million in ill-gotten gains,” Scannell added.

“She said that’s the benefit that Trump and his family received on loans that they received by giving banks and others these inflated valuations, as well as the profits that they made on the sale of the old post office building in Washington, D.C.,” Scannell concluded.

Watch the full clip above via CNN

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