New York taxpayers may be responsible for paying state attorney general Letitia James’ legal fees in a fraud case the Trump administration is bringing against her, according to language in a new budget plan that will be put to a vote later Wednesday night.
The state legislature is scheduled to start voting on Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul’s $254 billion budget proposal this week.
Republicans and Democrats will vote on the draft version of the budget’s state operations section on Wednesday night.
According to a draft copy of the bill released by the state Republican Party, that section contains language that would require taxpayers to contribute funds for a legal defense fund. Although James is not specifically mentioned in the bill, this fund would theoretically cover the attorney general of New York’s legal expenses related to fraud charges made against her by the Federal Housing Finance Agency of the Trump administration.
The proposed text, which was created by the Senate majority and Assembly majority and the Democrat-controlled executive branch, would allocate $10 million for the state’s elected officials to utilize for their legal defense in cases when the lawsuit directly relates to the official’s performance of their duties.
The New York State Attorney General’s Office procured James’ lawyer, Abbe Lowell, who described the Trump administration’s mortgage fraud claims against James as “political retribution” for her choice to pursue Donald Trump over claims he fabricated business documents to secure advantageous business positions.
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The New York operations budget bill’s draft wording states that if a state official has previously interacted with the U.S. government or a U.S. government official while performing official duties, the person may use funds from the legal defense fund.
James would also meet other requirements, especially in light of her prior case against Trump, which resulted in the first-ever felony conviction of a US president.
The draft text for the operations budget should be released to the public sometime on Wednesday, according to the sources who provided it.
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An attorney for James stated on Wednesday that “Donald Trump put Attorney General James at the top of his list and promised a vicious revenge tour when he ran in 2024, and we’re ready to respond to these attacks.” James intends to mount her case using both public and private state finances, the spokeswoman continued.
Ed Cox, the chair of the New York GOP, stated that “this is what corruption looks like.”
In a statement, Cox charged that “hardworking families are shortchanged while political insiders manipulate the system to protect their own.” “Tish James used her office to wage partisan lawfare against her political opponents, and now New Yorkers are footing the bill for the consequences.”
