A reckoning for Letitia James
New York's failed case against Donald Trump could haunt state attorney general
COMMENTARY
By Editorial Board - The Washington Times - Friday, August 22, 2025
OPINION:
A five-judge appellate panel on Thursday rejected the half-billion-dollar penalty that a Manhattan judge imposed on President Trump last year. The ruling sunk the case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James just in time to distract the 2024 presidential candidate at the height of campaign season.
“Plainly, her ultimate goal was not ‘market hygiene’ … but political hygiene, ending with the derailment of President Trump’s political career and the destruction of his real estate business. The voters have obviously rendered a verdict on his political career. This bench today unanimously derails the effort to destroy his business,” Judge David Friedman wrote in his concurring opinion.
Judge Friedman was the only panel member appointed by a Republican, but he agreed with the rest of his colleagues that a $564 million judgment for overstating real estate values when applying for a loan was so over-the-top it violated the Eighth Amendment protection against excessive fines.
“They made me bond the outrageous sum, which never happened before, and which cost me Millions of Dollars a month. It should have never been allowed to happen, and everyone knew it!” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social following Thursday’s ruling.
Miss James may soon come to regret the precedent she set in this case. She relied almost exclusively on testimony from convicted perjurer Michael Cohen, who provided the court with the shocking revelation that the then-former president had a penchant for exaggerating his assets.
What makes those allegations less relevant is the companies that made the series of five loans all profited from the transactions. Each firm was thrilled to land such a high-profile client, and they didn’t believe they were defrauded in any way. Sophisticated lenders are duty-bound to perform their own due diligence before finalizing a multimillion-dollar deal.
Manhattan Judge Arthur F. Engoron believes he understands land values better than Deutsche Bank. His honor, a registered Democrat, overruled Mr. Trump’s lawyers on every motion, insisting Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s 17-acre beachfront resort, was worth no more than $28 million. That’s rather implausible considering it generates $50 million in annual revenue.
Equally absurd is having a state prosecutor accusing a former president of mortgage fraud without first ensuring her own portfolio is squeaky clean. “I believe Letitia James committed mortgage fraud,” Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte wrote on X earlier this month.
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READ MORE: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/aug/22/editorial-reckoning-letitia-james/
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