Judge tosses Trump’s lawsuit against N.Y. AG Letitia James

New York Attorney General Letitia James is not harassing Donald Trump with a long-running investigation into his business practices, an Upstate federal judge ruled Friday, tossing a lawsuit brought by the former president.

Trump had slammed James’ civil investigation as a “thinly-veiled effort to publicly malign Trump and his associates.” He’d asked Syracuse-based federal Judge Brenda Sannes to halt James’ probe, which has spilled into state court over the AG’s demands that Trump and his family sit for questioning and turn over documents.

Sannes wrote in the new ruling that the investigation had not been “conducted in such a way as to constitute harassment” or in bad faith.

The ruling comes one day after another court defeat for Trump. On Thursday, a mid-level state appeals court ruled Trump and two of his children, Don Jr. and Ivanka, must sit for questioning under oath by James’ investigators.

“Time and time again, the courts have made clear that Donald J. Trump’s baseless legal challenges cannot stop our lawful investigation into his and the Trump Organization’s financial dealings,” James said in a statement. “No one in this country can pick and choose how the law applies to them, and Donald Trump is no exception. As we have said all along, we will continue this investigation undeterred.”

Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba said there was “no question” her client would appeal Sannes’ decision.

“If Ms. James’s egregious conduct and harassing investigation does not meet the bad faith exception...then I cannot imagine a scenario that would,” she said in a text.

James is investigating whether the Trumps and his company violated the law through serial inflation of property values to score favorable loans and tax breaks.

The probe has already cost the ex-president at least $110,000 in fines after Justice Arthur Engoron held him in contempt for blowing court deadlines in late April.