Rep. Biggs Urges DOJ to Appoint Special Counsel to Investigate New York AG

New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference in New York City on June 11, 2019. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) is urging the Justice Department to investigate New York state Attorney General Letitia James over allegations that she has been weaponizing her office to target the president for personal gain.

The Arizona lawmaker sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr on Oct. 2, asking him to appoint an independent special counsel to probe whether James been abusing her power for political purposes by vowing to launch investigations and lawsuits against President Donald Trump, his family, and his businesses. She also has made baseless public allegations of wrongdoing, Biggs said.

“James essentially sought to gain power by promising to abuse power. She even campaigned on passing a bill to change New York’s double jeopardy laws just in case she wanted to sue nonspecific people whom the Administration might one day pardon,” Biggs wrote in his letter (pdf).

“It seems James is willing to harass the President and ‘anyone in his orbit,’ including make up charges and foment public opinion against innocent people. This is an outrageous abuse of prosecutorial power!”

James’s office didn’t immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.

In August, James revealed that her office was investigating whether the president and the Trump Organization, the family company, had “improperly” manipulated the value of his assets on annual financial statements in order to secure loans and obtain tax benefits.

She had been probing the allegations since 2019, after Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, testified before Congress; the investigation has remained confidential for months. As part of the investigation, James had asked a state court to compel the Trump Organization’s executive vice president, Eric Trump—the president’s son—and other respondents to comply with several subpoenas. Trump has agreed to comply, but only after the election on Nov. 3. However, a New York judge last month ordered Trump to testify this month.

Biggs argues that James’s actions amount to ethical violations and suggested that she may have contravened federal laws.

“The bedrock of American justice are the Constitutional guarantees of fundamental fairness and due process of law; basic tenets of these requirements are the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial. When a prosecutor says or does things that belie a subject’s presumption of innocence, they compromise these fundamental rights,” the lawmaker wrote.

Last month, the House Judiciary Committee’s ranking member, Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Louisiana Attorney General and Chairman of the Republican Attorneys General Association Jeff Landry wrote separate op-eds raising concerns over James’ actions.