Breaking News from Pod Save America - EXCLUSIVE: New York Attorney General Letitia James on Being Investigated by the Trump Administration and the NYC Mayoral Race

Episode Date: June 4, 2025

Lovett talks to New York State Attorney General Letitia James about Trump's retaliatory investigations against her as well as the impending New York City mayoral race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Joining us today is New York Attorney General Tish James. Attorney General, welcome back to the show. Thank you for having me. It's good to see you. It's great to see you as well. What are you unfolding before us? Well, I wanted to give you a list just in case you asked me the question about all of our cases that we have pending. So I just wanted to give you an update.

That's all. But go ahead. Okay. So first of all, I just want to say, and I just need, there's an elephant in the room. And here's where it is. Okay. We were excited to hear that you were coming into town. Yeah.

And you said, oh, you know who I would love to talk to Tommy? I would love if I could talk to Tommy. Unfortunately, he is on vacation. And then so John and I had to figure out who. But we're so sorry to disappoint you that Tommy. Where is he? He's in France. Oh, wow.

He's in France. That's amazing. Patty? You know, I'm not sure we don't really talk about personal things. You spend so much time together. Yeah. Oh, okay. We're together for a long time.

I know. I think it's France. You think it's France? Yeah, because of the beret he was wearing. I have three of those berets. So I'm sorry you couldn't have your favorite. Well, he's not my favorite. Don't go that far.

Come on. All of you are my favorite. I love Pod Save America because right now we've got to save America. And it's so critically important that we stand together and that we join with you. And that I appreciate that. That I'm here today. We titled the pod ironically. And then it's like, oh, my God, we're still out.

We can't stop this guy. So let's get into this. You brought this major civil fraud case against Trump in 2023. You won. He's on the hook now for over $500 million because of the interest still in appeal. Now Trump's going after you. DOJ has opened a criminal investigation over alleged mortgage fraud. You call the allegations baseless.

Yes. What is the status of that investigation and your plan to fight it? I don't know. That's a question for DOJ. They just announced it. And that was it. So I've not heard anything as of yet. But we've responded to the baseless attack.

And my attorney has prepared a two-page, three-page letter, responding to each and every allegation, which is baseless. And let's go through that, okay? So the first allegation is that the house and the house and queens that my father purchased almost 30 years ago. somewhere in the mortgage documents he indicated that I was his wife as opposed to his daughter but the deed in fact says I am his daughter

my father has since passed and the house has since been sold period next there's a house in Virginia that I purchased that I was a co-signer with my for my niece my niece's children and I wanted to have her home and so I co-sign the home When I signed the power of attorney, I did it electronically.

I wanted my niece to basically sign for me at the closing. At the bottom of the power of attorney, it indicated that I was a resident of Virginia. Prior to that, I had indicated to the mortgage broker in caps. All caps. I am not a resident of Virginia. You're just from Brooklyn? I'm just from Brooklyn, period. And in the mortgage documents, it indicates whether or not you plan on.

being a resident of Virginia and I marked no, no, no. But of course, those were not publicly available. The only public document that's available is the power of attorney, which was not a basis for the mortgage. So this is, I think what's striking about this is, you see that this is a strategy the Trump administration is using against prominent adversaries and people that views as political enemies, but also against visa holders and any of the marginalized people that Trump wants to go over. If there's somebody that Trump views. as an enemy or someone they're targeting, they start combing through the documents to find any pretext.

But let me just, so in all fairness to the Trump administration. Oh, no. Yeah. In all fairness, I've got to be fair. This didn't start with the Trump administration. It started with an individual who apparently was either he or he knew someone who was the subject of a case that we brought in New York. And he claims that a relative of his or a friend of his committed suicide and therefore,

he was seeking revenge against me. He uncovered these documents which were innocent, no intention to defraud anyone and submitted them to the Trump administration. And they, in fact, weaponized the federal government DOJ and decided to, and basically arguing and have announced that there's a criminal investigation. Part of it is, again, this retribution campaign. And it's as a result of, one, the civil case where we secured a $454 million judgment and interest is accruing, which is on appeal in the first department in New York. And two, because we've been very, very active, standing up and defending our democracy. Yeah. So over the last few months, we've seen universities, some law firms, media organizations fold under pressure from Donald Trump. I know that I was

surprised by how quickly some of these organizations capitulated. Were you surprised to see people willing to take these kinds of deals when either the case for the media organizations was so flimsy or the law firms had such a constitutional ground to stand on? Yeah. You know, listen, the recapitulation to President Trump is pretty disappointing. It's upsetting that individuals decided to bend the knee to Donald Trump. at all, particularly at a time when he is seeking to reorganize government, consolidate power, and in terms of the rule of law, just dismiss it or challenge it. And we're at the brink of a constitutional crisis.

It should be alarming to everyone who cares about liberty and freedom and our democracy and the rule of law. And these are powerful interest. Earlier you talked about marginalized individuals who are the victims of the weaponization of the federal government. It's not just marginalized individuals. It's powerful interest in this country. Powerful interest in this country. And individuals need to understand that, particularly as an attorney, as attorneys, we have an obligation and a duty and a mission to zealously advocate. on behalf of our clients and not to give in and not to be cowed by the federal government.

Individuals expect us to stand up and fight back with zeal. Yeah. And it's unfortunate that they just decided to capitulate. Yeah, it was especially surprising from some of these firms. I think these firms thought, oh, we'll get out from under Trump's attention and move on with our lives. But now some of their clients seem to be running away because, They're saying, we want a law firm that's going to fight. What kind of law firm, how can I trust my lawyer to fight on my behalf if the lawyer won't fight on behalf of their basic values as a legal institution?

Some of their partners have left and formed their own law firms. And the clients have followed because people want fighters. And that's why, you know, the Democratic Party and the Independent Party and Republican Party, you know, that's why people, there's just, yeah, there's not a lot of support for the, these parties because people want individuals who are going to stand up and fight, particularly at a time when we are seeing so much inequality, when we are seeing, you know, the rich get richer, when we are living in a society where the rules don't apply to the rich and the powerful, and individuals are struggling day in and day out. We need individuals who recognize that we're all in this together, regardless of your political affiliation, that you should have a fighter on your side,

particularly when your rights are being violated or individuals are being or trespassing on your free speech, your free association, etc. So let's talk about some of the cases. Attorney General Pam Bondi is suing you and Governor Hokel for a law around immigration and whether undocumented people can access driver's license. You've joined 19 attorney generals in filing lawsuits against Trump. There's more. There's more.

Yeah. It's not just not 19. It's growing. It's growing. Exactly. The DHS Secretary Christine Nome is threatening to cut off emergency preparedness funding for states that don't comply with aspects of federal immigration enforcement. You just walk out. There's a lot unfolding here. There's a lot. So just a couple of days ago, they issued a list of, quote unquote, sanctuary jurisdictions. They retreated on that list. They pulled back on that list because there were so many. stakes on that list. And so many counties and cities and municipalities said, hey, we don't have a sanctuary law in place. And so that law doesn't exist anymore. But basically what that law said was that individuals who basically violate federal law in their minds, individuals who don't cooperate with the Trump administration, you know, we are going to penalize you financially. So it was just a watch list, but that watch list was rifled with mistakes. And so they pulled that back.

And so that list of sanctuary cities no longer exist at this point. Will they reissue it? Yes. Will they do better research and do additional findings to determine what cities, municipalities, jurisdictions, states, etc., have sanctuary laws? Yes. But at this point in time, they pull back the list. So I'm not a lawyer.

I'm just a small town country podcaster. And I'm a small time, well, I'm not a country lawyer. I'm a urban lawyer. Yeah, just a Brooklyn, just a Brooklyn practicing lawyer. But even in this case, it just seems that they're over and over again, basically brazenly saying, if you fight us over here, if you fight us on rules about immigration, if you fight us on DEI policies, whatever it may be,

we're going to take away your funding over here. Yeah. And my understanding is that that is brazenly unconstitutional. Yes. That if the federal government is using the funding, it is providing to a college or a state or a municipality to provide a certain function, that cannot be a cudgel to require speech or actions in other areas. They're holding us hostage.

And they're basically saying, yeah, they're using a cudgel to say, If you don't follow the Trump's, President Trump's agenda, we're going to withhold you funds, federal funds, and, you know, it's going to impact capital projects. It's going to impact human services. It's going to impact the health care. It's going to impact universities and colleges. It's going to impact research. It's going to impact meals on wheels.

Medicaid, Social Security, you name it. And federal agencies, you know, are having a difficult problem, a difficult time at this point in time fulfilling their mission. In fact, let me just give you an example. Social Security. They've decimated Social Security, the agencies. So many employees have left. They've given them buyouts. They fired them. And now seniors are calling our office. All of the Democratic attorneys general that I work with have indicated to me and others have indicated to me, you know, it's part of our coalition, that individuals are having a difficult time reaching someone, a live person in a Social Security office. And that's a major problem when individuals have issues related to Social Security and or want to apply for Social Security. And we are compiling the list. We have yet to take action. But we are trying to resolve them through our, you know,

constituent, through, you know, constituent affairs offices. But it's, but it's a lot of, you know, It's a problem when you have seniors call your office who rely upon social security on a day-to-day basis and who unfortunately can not get a live person at their respective agency. I guess what I'm trying to understand, though, is the distinction. So when the Trump administration says to Harvard or some college, do X, Y, or Z, or we're going to take away unrelated research funding. That's any clear. It's unconstitutional. It's unconstitutional. You're demanding certain actions, speech, what have you.

is that what what is the kind of argument for what they're trying to do to a state like new York or a city like New York City so you know there's a 10th amendment um so we we are our the form of government is that we cooperate with the federal government but we're a sovereign state a sovereign state with our own rules and regulations and we cooperate with the federal government but you cannot hold us hostage and so it exceeds your authority as the federal government you government. You've abused your authority as the federal government, and you have violated the 10th Amendment of the United States Constitution with respect to our sovereignty. And there's certain laws that only apply to the state, and there are certain laws that only apply to the federal

government. But the federal government is not all encompassing. And so you cannot, you cannot hold New York State or any other state hostage simply because refuse to cooperate with the federal government in terms of immigration, et cetera. So that's not the only way the federal government is trying to intimidate local officials. You had an Ohio judge who was arrested. You had the mayor of Newark arrested while accompanying members of Congress. There were charges against a member of Congress for being trespass. Well, the charges around what happened when she, when she,

was just doing her oversight duty as required by law. She was defending the mayor and another congress member who is, I don't want to say senior, but a mature congress member. Right. What is your response to seeing the federal government going after local officials this directly? Starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz, and all birds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into...

Sign up for your $1 per month trial at Shopify.com slash special offer. Well, Mayor Rosbaraka's case was dismissed, and this morning, Rosbaraka has announced the lawsuit against the assistant U.S. attorney of New Jersey, as well as the federal government. basically for false imprisonment. And so they're seeking damages against Alina Haba, both personally and against the federal government corporately. But like you're being kind of pursued by this administration. I mean, what is your message to local officials who may be facing this kind of intimidation and harassing?

You've got to continue to stand up. Listen, a lot of this is performative politics, right? Yeah. A lot of this is for headlines. A lot of this is an attempt to basically intimidate individuals, a chilling effect on elected officials who have some steel in their backbone. Yeah, yeah. That's what this is.

But my message to elected officials and to others, to those law firms, to universities, to individuals who get out on the street each and every day, is to stand up and fight back. And I want you to say that we are winning. And we are winning because, as a result, of ICE and FBI engaging in these arrest of children, college students, innocent individuals who are going about their lives each and every day, and they're arresting them for, you know, they're engaging in immigration enforcement. So many people have pushed back. In upstate New York, they push back. There was a family working on a farm, children, three children and a mother who were,

They were arrested on a dairy farm. This community in upstate New York, which is a red district, where Tom Honen lives, by the way, they protested. A red, red district decided to protest against Mr. Honen and ICE. And they all came out, this small community. And as a result, this family was released. The issue involving a young lady named Carol, who worked in a restaurant, again, in a district, in a community that voted for Trump overwhelmingly. They want Carol release. They're wearing t-shirts.

They are protesting ICE and the FBI. All throughout this nation, individuals are standing up and protesting ICE's criminal and civil enforcement against innocent individuals. Individuals who are not criminals. Individuals who work each and every day. Individuals who have been in this country for a very, very long time. individuals who work eat, who work hard and want the same thing that you and I want. Individuals who have escaped countries that are engaging in civil arrest and right now are in the midst of civil war. And individuals who know no other country but the United States of America.

People are rising up and standing up against this government, partitioning our government, that in fact this is not, this. This is not how we operate. This is not what we wanted. This is not what we voted for. Individuals who are demanding due process and individuals who are demanding that this federal government follow the rule of law. And so I'm just, I am just really excited about all of the energy that I am seeing on the ground. And I'm also very proud of the fact that the one institution that's standing up and fighting back and holding this administration accountable are the courts.

And so I don't know about individuals who are feeling despondent, depressed, not I. I'm filled with hope each and every day. Yeah, I guess so no plans to surrender. No plans to give up. You're not going to seek a deal to try to. You're not going to apologize. You mean if they invite me to the White House or if they invite me to Mara Lago? So I would go.

I would go and I would talk to him about, listen, you're doing Penn Station. congratulations. That's great. Let's see if we can do some more capital projects in the city and in the state of New York. We need some more federal funding. But it's not tied to anything because if you do, you know, obviously I have a responsibility to duty to take action. But it's really critically important that we go forward on major capital projects, which is much, which is greatly needed in the state of New York and in the city of New York because we need affordable housing because we're losing young people. Let's talk about New York for a second. So right now you have Governor Andrew Cuomo, Assemblyman. Did you say Governor Andrew Cromwell? The former. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I dropped the former. That was a mistake. I apologize. That was a gaff. And Assemblyman Zoran, Mamdani, seen as the frontrunner and challenger in the mayor's race. You've endorsed council speaker Adrian Adams. She's seen as more of a long shot. I don't know about that.

But that's what I want to ask about. There's a poll that came out by the work. It was commissioned by the Working Families Party. It was from before they endorsed Mamdani. They found that Adams. performs better in a head-to-head against Cuomo than Mamdani or controller Bradlander. So what's going on in the race? What's happening? So Adrian Adams, who is my candidate, who is the Speaker of the New York City Council,

who has negotiated a number of budgets, who is a candidate without any drama. And I believe that in order for us to go forward, we cannot look backwards. And that's why I am supporting Adrian Adams. Zoran Mandrani is a great candidate. A lot of excitement. He's bringing a lot of excitement to the race. And the Working Families Party has ranked candidates. They've ranked Zoran as number one.

Adrian, I believe, is number two. Brad is number three. And so with respect to the strategy of the Working Families Party, that's a strategy that I will revisit after November, after Adrian wins. After Adrian wins. So what is it? Like, it's, so you've had a lot of sort of rising enthusiasm for Mom Dani. You're a law enforcement officer of the state.

What is your reaction to having someone like Andrew Cuomo who has all these credible allegations of sexual harassment against him? What does it say about the fact that he is in such a strong position, regardless of the outcome? It says that individuals have short memories. and it says that, you know, the Cuomo name is an institution. And if you speak to a number of individuals, particularly in the African-American community, which is basically propping up Andrew Cuomo, we need to remind them that during COVID, that the testing sites were not in communities of color, that a significant number, a majority of black folk died as a result of the failure of the Andrew Cuomo administration

to provide testing sites in communities of color. Two, that the hostile work environment that was an investigation that I conducted was an investigation that Andrew Cuomo had asked of me. We need to remind Andrew Cuomo of his actions towards the first African-American governor of the state of New York, David Patterson. We need to remind New Yorkers that, in fact, all of the civil litigation related to that, harassment case has cost taxpayers more than $20 million. A million dollars. Some say 60. Bradlander says it's 60. Somewhere he, again, taxpayer dollars have cost New Yorkers millions and millions of dollars, which could go for child care, for Head Start, for Meals on Wheels, for Senior Services,

for Veteran Services, etc. We have to remind individuals that the reason why we've got a mental health crisis. The reason why so many individuals, unfortunately, have fallen victim to mental health illnesses is because hospitals in upstate New York were closed by who? Say his name? I think it's Cuomo is what you're

looking for. Andrew Cuomo. And he promised that in fact that there would be community-based organizations in the city of New York. Those community-based organizations unfortunately never materialized. The fact that we've got a

housing crisis is because, again, of who? What's his name? I know it's Cuomo. I can't believe I'm involved in the call and response. I'm just asking questions. All of these issues that we are dealing within the city of New York is because of this one man who basically wants to resurrect himself. And lastly, let me say that Andrew Cuomo is not interested in running as not interested in serving as the mayor of the city of New York. He is only interested in running for the president of these United States, which is why, according to an article this morning from Politico, he is already, again, trying to insert himself in the DNC and the Democratic Party. And I would say that, again, progress requires that we look forward and that we not go backwards and that people of

color, particularly African Americans, understand that he's criticized me, criticized Barack Obama, criticize David Patterson and criticize the speaker of the state assembly, Carl, hasty, and what do we all have in common? We're all people of color. So you're on the fence. You're a swing voter on this. What's the plan to look, look, he's got the name ID. He's got, by the way, I think it's more too, it's more than that, right? There is a kind of, that there's a sense that he's tough in some way. Well, all I'm getting is how do you How do you get a big enough coalition together? Toxic masculinity.

Tostic masculinity. Yeah. That he's tough that he can lead. But I would disagree with that. Again, if you look at his record. And the reality is at this point in time, he criticized me for filing that civil suit against Trump. And so how was that tough? Right.

How is that tough? He has yet to even challenge the Trump administration. He's been somewhat silent. Tish James has been out there each. every day. How is that tough when you're silent? Has he joined in any litigation? He could file a brief on his own. He could file a letter of support. He can issue, he can engage in social media and say, yes, on birthright citizenship, she was right. Yes. On illegal OMB funding, she was right. Yes. Yes. She stood up to Elon Musk when

he gained access to private information, the private data of citizens. He could have said something like, yes, the illegal National Institute of Health funding, yes, when she filed a lawsuit regarding the probationary federal employees who were terminated, that was a great lawsuit. He could have said a statement of that. How about he could have protected teachers when they came under an executive order where the president of these United States wanted to prevent grants? What about preserving the Department of Education and protecting disabled children in the Department of Education or protecting civil rights in the Department of Education?

Where was he? He was silent. What about defending, restoring vital HHS funding? What about the funding for 9-11 health care fund that was cut? What about Meals on Wheels? What about Head Start? Where was he? What about protecting libraries and funding for libraries? What about tariffs and small businesses? Where was he? What about DEI? What about LGBTQ? What about the fact that he has been, unfortunately, using members of the transgender community who are being denied gender affirming care. When we sent a letter to hospitals to say, please, you've got to continue gender affirming care. You've got to stand up for the trans community. You've got to stand up for those young people who are considering suicide at this point in time. Where was he? Sounds like he was absent.

Absent. MIA. And then we're SOL. He's not supporting DEI, not sporting LGBT. D-E-I, which is, you know, somehow, you know. He's M-I-A? He's M-I-A. We're S-O-L.

We're S-O-L. Yes. We're going to be S-I-S-O-L if he's elected as the mayor of the city of New York. So he's, it seems like he's not doing, you know, Maldi's out there every day. He is. Adrian Adams is out there. She's surging. She's surging.

Okay. She just received matching funds, so she's surging. I saw that. I saw that. But so how do you, how do it, look, it seems like something has to happen here. She's got to get on television. She needs more. media attention and she's got to make sure that her name is known and so media will

help obviously. Who are you ranking second? What did you say? Who you rank in second and third? I'm not ranking anyone at this point in time. Stay tuned. I thought I throw it in there. But Zoron is.

It's ranking thing. You've got to have so many opinions as an elected official. I know. I know. Either some say five, some say three, whatever. But what were you going to say about Zaron? So he has been on television, you know, and. he's been appealing obviously to young people and it's like I said it earlier there's a lot of excitement and energy with regards to Zoran and so we'll see what happens last question for yeah last question really I mean we can stay all day if you want but you recently announced a settlement with Equinox and Soul Cycle or making it too difficult to cancel memberships correct all right I have and not only those two there's more coming more coming okay yes I have a I have a concern and we need to talk about you know the fact that the you know right now it's all about

state rights. We can no longer rely upon the federal government. We used to work very closely with the consumer financial, federal, I always say this wrong. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Exactly, that bureau, which has been dismantled. We would work with them all the time, CFPB. And CFPB is no more. And so right now it's all about consumer, it's all about state's rights, which is why in the state of New York there's a piece of legislation which is currently pending, which would expand and strengthen our consumer laws in the state of New York because our general business law has not been amended in over 30-some odd years. Okay, here's my concern. I'm no longer a New Yorker, but I think it would affect people in New York.

If I sign up for a class, and I don't use my spot, I use my credit, I paid for the class, I signed up, I used my spot. If I missed that class, they charge me a $20 fee. fee for missing the class. That's my fucking spot. This is why. Who cares if they, what was it to them if I'm there or not? I slept in. I got to pay $20. You're S.O.L. I'm S.O.L. But this is why I'm here for you. This is why I came all the way to L.A. for you. To call Rob Bontah, your attorney general, the state of New York. Oh, yeah. I got to get

to have them step in and to file a similar case that we did here in the state of New York. I like my, I like my, I like using the, the, the, the, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, I I like the service they provide, but I don't know. Paying $20 just because I slept in. I know. That's my spot. What do they care of them lifting weights or not? Pretend I was there.

I know. Draw picture me. The point is, is that you raise a critical point. Thank God. And that is, you know, consumer laws, consumer laws with regards to junk fees, consumer laws with cancellation policies, consumer laws with regards to fraud, deception, unfairness. All of that is going to fall upon state's attorneys general, particularly democratic, state's attorney general who are really, who are really been in this space and have worked with the

federal government before. But since the federal government now is just ignoring us, since the federal government basically is only appealing to the rich, it really comes down to state attorneys general. And that's why it's really critically important that you know who we are, that here in the California, you have a great attorney general, Rob Bonta, who is working with us in coalition, again, to stand up for tenants rights, consumer rights, senior rights, women's rights, et cetera. And so please, please, please, we don't get a lot of credit, but we're getting a lot of attention now

because we are the coalition that is fighting back and kicking ass. And I just want to say, you got bigger fish to fry. I don't want anybody to spend any time on this class pass issue. All right, I know it's not a big deal. It is a big deal. It's a big deal to you, and it's a big deal to you, and that's why it's important to your attorney general. Oh, wow. Not necessarily, I mean, to me.

Sure, just as a friend. Attorney General Tish James, thank you so much for your time. So good to see you. It's like to see. It's so good we have fighters in this time. I appreciate you. Thank you. Spring is the season everyone refreshes everything except their blinds.

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