Trump demands New York AG Letitia James drop civil fraud case 'for the greater good of the country'
EXCLUSIVE: Lawyers for President-elect Donald Trump are demanding that New York Attorney General Letitia James drop her civil fraud case against him, his family and his businesses "for the greater good of the country," Fox News Digital has learned.
"In furtherance of our conversations with your office, we write to request that you completely dismiss the above-referenced case against President Donald J. Trump, his family, and his businesses, and stipulate to vacate the Judgment and dismiss all claims with prejudice," Trump attorney D. John Sauer wrote in a letter exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital.
NEW YORK APPEALS COURT APPEARS RECEPTIVE TO REVERSING OR REDUCING $454M TRUMP CIVIL FRAUD JUDGMENT
Trump was ordered to pay a $454 million civil fraud judgment in James’ lawsuit against him.
Trump has appealed the ruling, and judges on a New York appeals court seemed open-minded and receptive to potentially reversing the judgment altogether.
Sauer, though, pointed to Trump’s "historic election victory."
"President Trump has called for our Nation’s partisan strife to end, and for the contending factions to join forces for the greater good of the country," Sauer wrote. "This call for unity extends to the legal onslaught against him and his family that permeated the most recent election cycle."
Sauer, who was nominated as solicitor general in the second Trump administration, called the cases against Trump to have been "a flashpoint of national partisan division."
"As counsel for President Trump in this appeal—and now as his nominee for Solicitor General of the United States—I have had the opportunity to experience this partisan division personally, and I strongly believe that it is necessary for the health of our Republic for the strife and lawfare to end."
He added, "You now have the singular opportunity to help cure this division."
Sauer's letter comes after a string of legal victories for Trump and his legal team, coordinated by senior legal adviser Boris Epshteyn.
Sauer pointed to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s recent request, which was granted by federal Judge Tanya Chutkan, to dismiss his case against Trump related to the 2020 election. Smith also tossed his appeal in the classified records case on Monday after a federal judge dismissed the charges altogether in July, ruling that he was unlawfully appointed as special counsel."
In New York v. Trump, Judge Juan Merchan granted Trump’s request to file a motion to dismiss the charges stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case and removed the sentencing date for the president-elect from the schedule.
"This case warrants the same treatment," Sauer wrote.
Sauer reminded that in James’ case "the statute of limitations bars claims and liability."
TRUMP'S $454M JUDGMENT BOND SLASHED BY MORE THAN HALF IN APPEALS COURT RULING
Sauer also reminded that her case involves "no victims, no complaints, no misstatements, no causation, and no injuries or losses."
"Instead, President Trump provided clear and unambiguous disclaimers to sophisticated commercial parties who made decisions based on their own due diligence," Sauer wrote. "Every loan and insurance payment was made in full, and either on time or early."
Sauer said Trump’s business partners "were delighted with these transactions" and "benefited enormously, making over $100 million in profits."
Sauer said the evidence "definitively demonstrates that the defendants’ counterparties were not deceived, that they performed their own due diligence and eagerly sought, and embraced, the highly profitable business transactions, and that the challenged statements did not affect the terms of any transaction."
"As noted above, they were paid back in full, on time or early," he said.
Sauer said "the chilling effect generated by this case is crushing to businesses across New York, who are being forced to flee to friendlier States where such standardless enforcement and excessive punishment are not found."
"President Trump is one of the most successful developers in the history of New York," Sauer said. "He rebuilt the New York skyline, created thousands of jobs, rescued and rejuvenated historic Wollman Rink, developed the $3 billion West Side Railyards from 59th to 72nd Street in Manhattan, was deeply involved in developing the Jacob Javits Center, and is singularly responsible for many other successes," Sauer wrote. "This lawsuit against him ‘vindicates no public purpose.’"
Sauer pointed to Trump’s landslide victory and his pending inauguration as the 47th president.
He also noted remarks by past presidents, specifically on Oct. 3, 1863, during "the time of our Nation’s greatest division," when President Lincoln issued the Thanksgiving Proclamation.
"President Lincoln called for the American people to set aside their bitter divisions so that the blessings of liberty could be ‘solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people.’" Sauer wrote. "He urged all Americans to ‘fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.’"
Sauer added, "Invoking the same spirit of unity, we request that you stipulate to the vacatur of the Judgment and dismissal of this case with prejudice."
Sauer’s letter comes after New York Judge Arthur Engoron ruled this year that Trump and other defendants were liable for persistent and repeated fraud, falsifying business records, issuing false financial statements, conspiracy to falsify false financial statements, insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.
In September 2023, before the non-jury trial began, Engoron ruled that Trump and the Trump Organization had committed fraud while building his real estate empire by deceiving banks, insurers and others by overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork used in making deals and securing financing.
Trump was hit with an initial penalty of $355 million. That sum is quickly increasing via interest accruals of approximately $112,000 a day until paid in full, now sitting around $470 million.
Trump's legal team said the initial requested bond was "unprecedented for a private company" and said to post it in the judgment's full amount was a "practical impossibility."
An appeals court slashed Trump's bond payment in March, and the former president paid $175 million.
Trump has vowed to fight the case "all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary."
Trump and his family denied any wrongdoing, with the former president saying his assets had been undervalued. Trump's legal team insisted that his financial statements had disclaimers and made it clear to banks that they should conduct their own assessments.
Throughout the trial, Trump attorneys brought witnesses, including former Deutsche Bank top executives, who testified the banks sought additional business from Trump, whom they viewed as a "whale of a client."
Trump's defense also brought in expert witnesses, including New York University accounting professor Eli Bartov, who reviewed the Trump financial statements at issue in the case and said he found no evidence of accounting fraud.
Bartov testified last month that Trump’s financial statements did not violate accounting principles, and he suggested that anything problematic — like a huge year-to-year leap in the estimated value of his Trump Tower penthouse — was simply an error.
"My main finding is that there is no evidence whatsoever of any accounting fraud," Bartov testified. Trump’s financial statements, he said, "were not materially misstated."