In the latest legal battle for Donald J. Trump, a federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit the former president had filed to halt the New York Attorney General’s civil investigation into his business practices.
The ruling, in federal court in Albany, marked Mr. Trump’s second defeat over the investigation in two days. On Thursday, an appeals court ordered Mr Trump and two of his children to sit under oath for questioning from the office of Attorney General Letitia James.
Together, the statements pave the way for Ms. James to complete her investigation in the coming weeks or months. While Ms. James, a Democrat seeking reelection, does not have the authority to bring criminal charges against Mr. Trump or his family’s real estate company, she can file a lawsuit if she concludes they have committed fraud.
Last month, one of her attorneys indicated a lawsuit could be filed soon and said the office was preparing an “enforcement action” in the near future.
It is unclear whether Mr Trump plans to appeal any of the rulings. His lawyers aren’t respond to requests for comment.
“The courts have made it clear that Donald J. Trump’s unfounded legal challenges cannot stop our legal investigation into his and the Trump organization’s financial transactions,” Ms. James said in a statement. “Nobody in this country can choose how the law applies to them, and Donald Trump is no exception. As we have said all along, we will boldly continue this investigation.”
Mr. Trump’s attorneys filed the federal lawsuit in December, arguing that Ms. James’ public criticism of Mr. Trump and the subpoenas she issued to him and his company violated several of his constitutional rights, including those to liberty. of speech and due process.
In Friday’s ruling, federal judge Brenda K. Sannes rejected Mr. Trump’s claim that Ms. James’s investigation was politically motivated and that she had violated his rights.
Mr. Trump’s lawsuit had cited a litany of Ms. James’ public statements criticizing him, including a 2017 tweet stating that she “led the opposition to Donald Trump in NYC.”
While Ms. James’ public statements may reflect political or personal animosity toward Trump, the judge said, they were not sufficient to prove that the Attorney General had violated Mr. Trump’s rights.
Judge Sannes also found “no evidence that the subpoena enforcement process was conducted in a manner involving harassment.”
Mr. Trump has denied all wrongdoing and has criticized Ms. James, calling her investigation “a witch hunt.”
Understand the New York AG’s Trump Inquiry
An empire under scrutiny. Letitia James, the New York State Attorney General, is currently conducting a civil investigation into the business practices of former President Donald J. Trump. Here’s what you need to know:
Her research focuses on his financial statements, which contain estimated values of his golf courses, hotels and other properties. Ms. James is investigating whether Mr. Trump and his company have falsely – and fraudulently – inflated these values to secure loans and other financial benefits.
In a lawsuit this year, Ms. James revealed that Mr. Trump’s longtime accounting firm had severed ties with him, essentially withdrawing nearly a decade of financial statements.
She also argued, in a separate filing, that the Trump organization engaged in “fraudulent or deceptive” practices. But her lawyers said they would need to collect additional data and testimony, especially from Mr. Trump, before deciding whether to sue.
Last month, a Manhattan state judge, Arthur F. Engoron, contemptuously held Mr. Trump in court for failing to fully comply with Ms. James’ subpoena to obtain his personal information. (The judge recently released the contempt warrant after Mr. Trump paid a $110,000 fine and filed additional documents detailing his efforts to comply.)
Justice Engoron also ordered Mr Trump — as well as two of his children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump — to be interviewed under oath by Ms. James’s office. In its ruling Thursday, a New York State appeals court upheld that order.
While Mrs. As James escalates her civil investigation, Mr. Trump is also facing a criminal investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office into some of the same business practices that Ms. James is reviewing.
But as the criminal investigation continues, prosecutors stopped presenting evidence about Mr Trump to a grand jury early this year.
