President Trump lashed out Monday at New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration, accusing the Democratic governor of using state Attorney General Letitia James as a “bludgeoning tool” to harass his businesses.
Trump claimed that the New York AG’s office has been “in search of a crime” while looking at his entities.
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“Now Cuomo’s A.G. is harassing all of my New York businesses in search of anything at all they can find to make me look as bad as possible,” Trump said in a series of tweets.
The attorney general promptly fired back: "As the elected AG of NY, I have a sworn duty to protect & uphold state law. My office will follow the facts of any case, wherever they lead. Make no mistake: No one is above the law, not even the President. P.S. My name is Letitia James. (You can call me Tish.)"
Among other cases, the attorney general’s office sued the Trump Foundation in 2018, claiming it engaged in illegal activity and did not have proper oversight. The matter was eventually settled when the foundation agreed to dissolve. James called on Trump to pay $8.4 million in penalties and restitution as part of the settlement.
New York also led the charge in the legal battle against the Trump administration’s effort to include a citizenship question in the 2020 census. In a ruling on Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that they are blocking the question for now, because they did not believe the reason for it put forth by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
James, though, said before she took office that she would "use every area of the law" to investigate the Trump family -- and has followed through.
Her office is currently investigating the Trump Organization for allegedly underpaying undocumented immigrants who worked at a Trump-owned golf club. They also subpoenaed financial records including loan applications and mortgages from institutions including Deutsche Bank as part of a probe of Trump Organization projects.
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Trump claimed it is all part of a “political Witch Hunt,” and faulted the state for investigating his affairs but not the Clinton Foundation.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Trump's opponent in the 2016 White House race, later tweeted: “Nope. The @ClintonFdn has—among many other things—provided 13k doses of naloxone to fight ODs and helped deliver supplies to Puerto Rico in the face of your inaction. Your foundation, in the NY AG’s words, engaged in 'a shocking pattern of illegality.'”
Trump also blasted New York in general, saying, “It is very hard and expensive to live there,” and that his family and businesses have to pay “a fortune on lawyers” in addition to “ridiculously high taxes.”
Cuomo learned about Trump's tweet during a press conference call. "Nothing that an can say can surprise me or the people of this country," he said. Addressing Trump's criticism of the state's taxes, Cuomo blamed the president for any tax hikes.
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"I have reduced taxes in the State of New York," he said. "If he's complaining about the tax increase, the only tax increase is the Trump tax increase."
Cuomo also denied that Attorney General James is his "tool," noting that James was elected by the people of New York, not chosen by him.
Fox News' Tamara Gitt contributed to this report.
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