© Drew Angerer/ Getty ImagesNew York Attorney General Letitia James
Letitia James, who will replace Barbara Underwood on January 1, 2019, vowed to probe not only Trump but also his family and any of his associates who might have violated the law.
Her plans include an investigation over the meeting between a Russian official and three senior members of the Trump campaign-Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort-held at Trump Tower in June 2016.
Both the Trump Foundation and whether the president has violated the emoluments clause in the U.S. Constitution through his New York businesses are also expected to come under the spotlight.
James also indicated she intends to probe government subsidies received by the president, as well as any illegal activities that might involve Trump's real estate holdings in New York City. The last two points are also part of a wide-ranging investigation that The New York Times first disclosed in October.
"We will use every area of the law to investigate President Trump and his business transactions and that of his family as well," James was quoted as saying by NBC News.
"We want to investigate anyone in his orbit who has, in fact, violated the law."
The 60-year-old Democrat, who graduated from Howard University, in Washington, D.C., with a law degree, became the first African-American woman to be elected to the position of New York Attorney General when she won the race last month.
A lawyer, activist and politician, James was the first black woman to hold citywide office, having served as the New York City Public Advocate from January 2014.
The Brooklyn native campaigned on passing a bill to change the state's double jeopardy laws. She told NBC she remains intent to ensure the state can press charges against anyone the president were to pardon over federal charges whose alleged crimes took place in New York.
To do so, however, she will have to change the current law.
"I think within the first 100 days this bill will be passed," she explained.
"It is a priority because I have concerns with respect to the possibility that this administration might pardon some individuals who might face some criminal charges, but I do not want them to be immune from state charges."
James, who in September won the Democratic primary for attorney general of New York with 40.6 percent of the votes, had been endorsed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The New York attorney general-elect admitted investigating President Trump would be a task bigger than any she has faced throughout her career so far.
New York is where Trump's presidential campaign and his re-election campaign are based and it is also the headquarter of the president's namesake business.
"Taking on President Trump and looking at all of the violations of law I think is no match to what I have seen in my lifetime," she said.
Reader Comments
Among my Liberal friends, when anti-Trump jokes resolve to being little more than, " Trump! Am I Right?" I sometimes sigh from lack of amusement, as though dealing with foolish children, and patiently offer such unthinkable words:
"I don't actually hate the man. He lacks grace and he's made some dumb decisions, but he's nowhere near the monster people portray him as. I like the fact that he hasn't started any new wars. That counts pretty big in my book. I think you can take the measure of a leader by the body count they leave behind. Trump's doing far better than most of his predecessors. A true Liberal concerned with Life and Liberty and Fairness ought to be pretty happy about his desire to avoid mass bloodshed, but instead they go into hysterics, focusing on nonsense about who gets to hold the mic."
Wow. People physically recoil, like they been gut punched or something. "Oh my god, there's an Other among the flock!" They get jittery, they lose composure, they lose their ability to speak coherently, they lose the thread and a goodly portion of their shit. I think it is fair to say that these are not reasoned reactions. That's some kind of lower-brain knee-jerk emotional cult-like bullshit exerting itself right there!
One can only wonder what would happen if Trump were to respond in kind by opening a predatory fishing expedition into this zealot woman's life in an effort to find something, (anything!) to have her arrested for.
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