Legal experts and politicos flocked to Twitter upon the news that the New York attorney general is joining the criminal complaint against former President Donald Trump's New York company.
In a statement from Attorney General Letitia James' spokesperson, it was revealed that the Trump Organization was informed that they're now part of a New York criminal probe along with the financial probe from the district attorney.
Former New Jersey federal prosecutor Elie Honig told CNN's Don Lemon that the NYAG saw something and that's why they're joining the DA's case.
It was clearly "something that has led them to expand and change the nature of their investigation because going back to 2019, the New York attorney general has been in the civil lane not criminal while the D.A. has been in the criminal lane," said Honig. "Now the AG has seen something that's prompted them to make a decision to say, 'now we need to cross over and join you, district attorney's office, on the criminal side. That's a big move. We don't know what it is or what it was. I want to say this about the New York's attorney general's office, I've worked with them on various cases. They don't do every kind of crime. If there's one thing they specialize in, it's complex fraud, that's what they pride themselves on. It's in their wheelhouse so it's a significant development and certainly not good news for the Trump Organization."
Trump's people are refusing to comment.
See the video and other comments from experts below:
bad news for trumpwww.youtube.com
Trump is going to flip out.— Bradley P. Moss (@Bradley P. Moss) 1621389577.0
NY AG James was investigating civil tax issues at the Trump Org, as well as Deutsche Bank loans for Trump Tower Chi… https://t.co/ZJvFJkQ5eB— Robert J. DeNault (@Robert J. DeNault) 1621390485.0
NY AG has converted her investigation into Trump Organization into a criminal investigation. Could be very signifi… https://t.co/4W3pODcjhk— Harry Litman (@Harry Litman) 1621389918.0
Another significant point: NY AG is working in cooperation with NY DA. They must be bringing something to the ta… https://t.co/EBH6wWSDVk— Harry Litman (@Harry Litman) 1621390562.0
@AWeissmann_ making the salient point on @Lawrence : NY's Martin Act is incredibly broad. reaches almost everythi… https://t.co/O9ODxtqVS4— Harry Litman (@Harry Litman) 1621391240.0
BREAKING- I see the Martin Act coming in to play as that gives the NY AG *criminal* jurisdiction. https://t.co/rjHQVBIFsN— Andrew Weissmann (@Andrew Weissmann) 1621391397.0
Here we go. Bring the pain @TishJames https://t.co/0WxHgV16gm— Andrew C Laufer, Esq (@Andrew C Laufer, Esq) 1621389883.0
The Trumps have never been “purely civil.” But in all seriousness, this is serious: Active criminal investigation.… https://t.co/w8Jo8P6wCx— Jed Shugerman (@Jed Shugerman) 1621389842.0
A long time coming, but it has come. https://t.co/ExVor3xAp1— Neal Katyal (@Neal Katyal) 1621390604.0
Whoa ... https://t.co/aCnPg1AFQm— digby (@digby) 1621390213.0
