Trump sues NY Attorney General James to end investigation into Trump Organization

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Criminal case against Trump's company

The Manhattan district attorney and the New York attorney general are jointly prosecuting criminal charges against the Trump Organization and its longtime chief financial officer, who is a close ally of Donald Trump's.

Former President Donald Trump sued New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday, seeking to end her civil investigation into his business practices.

In the lawsuit, filed two weeks after James requested that Trump sit for a Jan. 7 deposition, Trump alleges the investigation has violated his constitutional rights in a "thinly-veiled effort to publicly malign Trump and his associates."

"Her mission is guided solely by political animus and a desire to harass, intimidate, and retaliate against a private citizen who she views as a political opponent," the former president's lawyers wrote in the suit.

Trump, a Republican, seeks a permanent injunction barring James, a Democrat, from investigating him and a declaratory judgment stating that she has violated his rights.

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Former Trump adviser indicted

Tom Barrack, a private equity investor and a close friend of Donald Trump's, faces a federal indictment on charges that he acted as an unregistered foreign agent and lied to the FBI about it.

Messages seeking comment were left with James’ office and Trump's lawyers. News of the lawsuit filed in federal court in Albany was first reported by The New York Times.

James has spent more than two years looking at whether Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, misled banks or tax officials about the value of assets — inflating them to gain favorable loan terms or minimizing them to reap tax savings.

RELATED: Trump expected to give deposition in lawsuit

James’ investigators last year interviewed one of Trump’s sons, Trump Organization executive Eric Trump, as part of the probe. Her office went to court to enforce a subpoena on the younger Trump and a judge forced him to testify after his lawyers abruptly canceled a previously scheduled deposition.

James' request for Donald Trump's testimony, first reported Dec. 9, was the first step in a process that will now likely lead to issuing a subpoena and going to a judge to order him to cooperate if he were to refuse.

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Trump lawyers respond

Trump Organization attorneys Alan Futerfas and Susan Necheles denounced the criminal case against their client.

It is rare for law enforcement agencies to issue a civil subpoena for testimony from a person who is also the subject of a related criminal investigation. That’s partly because the person under criminal investigation could simply cite their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.

It is unlikely that Trump’s lawyers would allow him to be deposed unless they were sure his testimony couldn’t be used against him in a criminal case.

RELATED: New grand jury seated as Trump criminal probe continues

The Manhattan district attorney’s office is conducting a parallel criminal investigation into Trump’s business dealings. Although the civil investigation is separate, James’ office has been involved in both. Earlier this year, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. gained access to the longtime real estate mogul’s tax records after a multiyear fight that twice went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Vance, who is leaving office at the end of the year, recently convened a new grand jury to hear evidence as he weighs whether to seek more indictments in the investigation, which resulted in tax fraud charges in July against the Trump Organization and its longtime CFO Allen Weisselberg.

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Cuomo's attorney wants AG James to recuse herself

Former Governor Andrew Cuomo's lawyer held a news conference Thursday demanding Attorney General Letitia James recuse herself from any investigations related to the Governor.

Weisselberg pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he and the company evaded taxes on lucrative fringe benefits paid to executives.

Both investigations are at least partly related to allegations made in news reports and by Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, that Trump had a history of misrepresenting the value of assets.

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James ends campaign for governor

Letitia James announced that she will seek re-election as attorney general and will no longer run for governor.

James’ office issued subpoenas to local governments as part of the civil probe for records pertaining to Trump’s estate north of Manhattan, Seven Springs, and a tax benefit Trump received for placing land into a conservation trust. Vance later issued subpoenas seeking many of the same records.

James’ office has also been looking at similar issues relating to a Trump office building in New York City, a hotel in Chicago and a golf course near Los Angeles. Her office also won a series of court rulings forcing Trump’s company and a law firm it hired to turn over troves of records.

James had announced a run for New York governor in late October, but earlier this month, she suspended that campaign and cited ongoing investigations in her decision to instead seek reelection as state attorney general.