Trump says he has filed lawsuit against New York attorney general accusing her of ‘crusade’ against him

Lawsuit accuses Letitia James of pursuing a ‘relentless, pernicious, public, and unapologetic crusade’ against Trump

Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social account that he has filed a lawsuit against New York attorney general Letitia James, accusing her of pursuing a “relentless, pernicious, public, and unapologetic crusade” against him.

The former president also claimed in the lawsuit filed in the Florida circuit court that the New York attorney general was violating his rights to privacy and property.

He said Ms James was violating his rights as a grantor and beneficiary of the Donald J Trump revocable trust.

Mr Trump further said that Ms James has done little to protect New York against rampant crime.

The lawsuit stated that the goal of the attorney general is “destroying him [Donald Trump] personally, financially, and politically”.

The civil suit accused Ms James of a smear campaign against Mr Trump and labelled her as a “political hack... who is using this lawsuit for political gain”.

In a statement announcing the lawsuit, the former president said: “While James does nothing to protect New York against these violent crimes and criminals, she attacks great and upstanding businesses which have done nothing wrong, like the very successful, job and tax producing Trump Organization that I have painstakingly built over a long period of years.”

“Crooked and highly partisan James now thinks it is the business of the State of New York to go after my revocable trust and pry into my private estate plan, only to look for ways to recklessly injure me, my family, my businesses, and my tens of millions of supporters,” he said.

Ms James filed a civil lawsuit against Mr Trump, alleging that the former president and the Trump Organization inflated his net worth by billions of dollars and misled banks and others for years about the value of his assets.

Ms James is seeking $250m and a permanent ban on the former president doing business in New York.