Trump Spokesman Eric says Letitia James Should Be ‘Disbarred’ Because Bad Intent Outweighs Good Evidence

I love the smell of Trumpian pushback in the morning. It smells like desperation. First of all, have you noticed that Eric Trump is the only one with that last name who’s doing any talking lately? Don Jr. goes on Fox News and talks about non issues, like wouldn’t it be great if Hillary ran in 2024. Ivanka and Jared are invisible. Tiffany, in all fairness, has never been as prominent as the others, so it makes sense she’s out of the loop. And Melania is too busy being an entrepreneur and selling NFTs of her eyes to come forward and say anything.

So that leaves Eric to cover all the talk shows and social media solo. What’s a number two (and we mean that in all senses of the phrase) son to do?

Today Eric took an interesting legal posture, at least it’s a novel one. He claims that Letitia James’ purported ill will towards the Trump family motivates her investigation and therefore she should be disbarred from the practice of law. Now what that has to do with the mountain of evidence she has on Donald Trump, or with the price of soybeans in Iowa for that matter, he doesn’t explain.

But I think the reasoning is something along the lines of, “You’re only doing this because you hate my father. Yes, but I know you have all kinds of evidence of his criminal behavior but if you didn’t hate him, that wouldn’t matter.” Sound about right?

After Eric says they are “prosecuting” the NY AG, Junior calls for Letitia James’ disbarment. pic.twitter.com/hRDr5BJL6F

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 19, 2022

Man, there’s a lot to unpack there. All right, class, put on your high boots and get your shovels, there’s a lot of manure to get through.

What does he mean, “won’t even directly respond to our motions?” What, she’s supposed to pick up the phone and have some ex parte communication? And it’s “political targeting” and “retribution” when she has “significant evidence” of wrongdoing, in the form of misrepresentation of material fact, known elsewhere as lies, and it’s her job as attorney general to prosecute people who commit crimes?

But Eric has to say something, right? Right. This is going to get interesting, with Eric on one side claiming political motivation and James on the other side, claiming her office’s doings are “beyond reproach” based on the evidence. Daily Beast:

The court documents notes that for over a year—and since Eric Trump testified in August 2020—the AG’s office has found significant evidence indicating that the Trump Organization used intentionally wrong property valuations “to obtain a host of economic benefits, including loans, insurance coverage, and tax deductions.”

Eric Trump invoked the Fifth Amendment “repeatedly” to avoid testifying as to the valuations of multiple Trump Organization properties, according to the memo.

Prosecutors note that while their office has not reached a final decision as to whether this evidence warrants any legal action, their grounds “for conducting the investigation are beyond reproach.”

“This game must end,” the AG’s office says in its court filing, which asks that a judge force Trump and his two adult children to testify, as well as compel the company to turn over key missing documents.

In a Wednesday statement, the Trump Organization denied the allegations, accusing James of “misleading the public” with her probe into the former president’s businesses.

“She defrauded New Yorkers by basing her entire candidacy on a promise to get Trump at all costs without having seen a shred of evidence and in violation of every conceivable ethical rule. Three years later she is now faced with the stark reality that she has no case,” the statement said. “So, in response to Trump suing her and filing multiple ethical complaints, and on the heels of her failed governor’s race, she has no choice but to mislead the public yet again by misrepresenting the facts and ignoring her own inflammatory comments. Her allegations are baseless and will be vigorously defended.”

So what the Trumps have is an ad hominem attack and a sob story and what the attorney general has is facts and figures.

The filing says that the Trump Organization’s top lawyer, Alan Garten, maintained that the boss just was not involved that closely—even though company controller Jeffrey McConney told investigators in a sworn deposition that Trump would normally sit down to review asset values with chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg.

In the past, a source with direct knowledge of the company’s inner workings has told The Daily Beast that the Trump Organization had an annual ritual in which Trump and Weisselberg would review company finances in private and fill in the blanks as they saw fit. (Weisselberg and the company were indicted last summer on tax fraud charges in the parallel criminal investigation that’s being run by the Manhattan district attorney with the AG’s help.)

In a footnote within the court filing, the AG’s office also revealed that the Trump Organization’s reluctance to cooperate was so severe that the company was forced to hire an outside firm to oversee the search for electronic records. Back in September, a New York state judge had warned the company that it would have to turn over documents and top lieutenants would have to testify.

The filing asks a judge to compel Donald Trump and the Trump Organization to turn over all documents within 14 days, and to have Donald, Donald Jr. and Ivanka summoned to testify within 21 days.

And that, as they say, is the bottom line.

Yep. A hit dog will hollar.