After winning a big win in court, Letitia James celebrates in public

This has been a very good year for Letitia James.

Over the past month, Ms. James, New York’s attorney general, has won hard-fought victories over two formidable opponents. First, in mid-February, her office won a stunning $454 million verdict against former President Donald J. Trump in a civil fraud lawsuit over allegations that he inflated his wealth.

A week later, Ms. James, a Democrat, again prevailed, this time against the National Rifle Association and its longtime leader, Wayne LaPierre, who was found personally liable for more than $5 million in misused funds.

“It took a prosecutor with the courage to get under the hood,” Nick Suplina, senior vice president for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun violence prevention group, said of the NRA case. “And that’s what Attorney General James did.”

The twin victories over figures seen as villains by her fellow Democrats have made Ms. James a hero in some circles, complete with the kind of resume-blasting achievements that could herald an ascension to the governor’s mansion or the national office. Ms. James, who handily won a second term in 2022, appears to be enjoying her reputation as an antagonist of right-wing political figures, some of whom have reacted angrily to her public statements.

Ms. James’ other recent targets include: neglected nursing homes, anti-transgender bans And the world’s largest meat producer. But her outspokenness with Mr. Trump has underscored the tension between an attorney general’s promise of impartiality and the political benefits of attacking a deeply unpopular Republican in a state where Democrats dominate.

Delaney Kempner, a spokeswoman for Ms. James, said Saturday that the attorney general was chosen “to take on the greatest threats to our state and protect its people, and that is exactly what she has done.”

Ms. James is not the first in her position to celebrate major victories, including predecessors such as Eliot Spitzer, known as the Sheriff of Wall Street, and Eric T. Schneiderman, who took on Trump over the former president’s eponymous university.

Federal prosecutors also often make sweeping, accusatory statements about suspects before the trial. Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former Republican mayor of New York City, was known for his flashy briefings on criminal cases when he was U.S. attorney in Manhattan.

Ms. James’s open antipathy toward Mr. Trump is remarkable. Since Judge Arthur F. Engoron’s order that the former president pay a fine of more than $450 million in the civil fraud case, Ms. James has posted figures of the interest that also ends up at that amount the total amount owed by Mr Trump the state he once called home.

She has also been blunt about the possibility of seizing some of Trump’s properties in New York City if he doesn’t pay up, including a towering 1930s Art Deco skyscraper that bears his name and is just a short walk from her office is located. “Every day at 40 Wall Street.”

Her attitude toward her NRA win was equally feisty.

Mrs. James’ message to a personal social media account a Washington Post column praising the verdict: “10/10, no notes.”

Such comments drew laughter and praise from Trump’s opponents, including Senator Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat and Senate majority leader. He called Ms. James “a fighter” who “inevitably wins.”

On the other hand, her comments have angered the former president’s supporters.

She was booed and met with “Trump!” chants at a firefighting event in New York on Thursday, behavior that John J. Hodgens, the department head, later called an “embarrassment.” After the verdict against Mr. Trump, envelopes containing white powder were sent to the Albany building where Ms. James’s office is located.

Conservative lawyers, commentators and Republican elected officials say she has perverted the cause of justice.

“Tish James has a dangerous combination of ignorance and arrogance,” says Mike Davis, the founder of the Article III Project, a group that helped promote Trump’s judicial nominations when he was president. “You can have one or the other. You can’t have both.”

Mr. Davis, who also works as outside counsel for Representative Elise Stefanik, a Republican from the state, said he believed Ms. James had “corrupted the entire case with unnecessary prejudice” that could give Mr. Trump an avenue for appeal.

Mr. Trump sued Ms. James in 2021 on such grounds to halt her investigation into his company, but a federal judge dismissed that case and rejected Mr. Trump’s claim that Ms. James’ investigation was politically motivated. Judge Engoron also rejected Mr. Trump’s argument that the fraud case was political, saying in a 2022 decision that the motivation was “no personal animus, no racial or ethnic or other discrimination, no campaign promises.”

Yet Ms. Stefanik herself called for Ms. James’ suspension in February by filing a request detailed complaint with a New York commission overseeing lawyer discipline. In the complaint, she cited comments from Ms. James that Ms. Stefanik said indicated a “personal vendetta” against Mr. Trump, including calling him a “bully” who lives “in a fantasy land.”

In an interview, Ms. Stefanik, who endorsed Mr. Trump early in his campaign for the Republican nomination in this year’s presidential race and is being considered as a potential running matesaid Mrs. James had shamed New York with her statements before, during and after the trial.

“It does not meet the standards of attorneys in New York State, let alone the attorney general,” Ms. Stefanik said.

Ellen C. Yaroshefsky, a professor of legal ethics at Hofstra University, rejected the idea that Ms. James’ statements could have tainted the case against Mr. Trump, noting that the decision was not decided by a jury but rather by a single right. waved.

“This is a weaponization of ethics for political grandeur,” Professor Yaroshefsky said of Ms. Stefanik’s complaint, adding: “It is simply not a credible claim.”

As the first black person and first woman to be elected attorney general of New York, Ms. James has also at times been the target of racially charged comments: Indeed, Mr. Trump, who has often found political backlash among women of color, has used a nickname for her that is reminiscent of racist comments.

Mr. Trump, subject to — and in violation of — a gag order during the civil trial, used his Truth Social account to attack Ms. James, calling her “Bats… CRAZY (and racist!),” “Evil and corrupt,” and the “WORST ATTORNEY GENERAL IN THE UNITED STATES.”

Ms Kempner, the attorney general’s spokeswoman, said: “Blaming politics for your own misconduct is the oldest – and flimsiest – trick in the book, and it is a paltry defense when faced with the facts and the law .”

Ms. James’s supporters say her own reports about interest owed by Mr. Trump are not taunting, but simply true. They also point out that her successes include heavy investigations into other Democrats, including former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who resigned following a 2021 investigation by the attorney general’s office into sexual harassment allegations.

Ms. James’ national profile has been years in the making. A Brooklyn native, she began her career as a public defender for the Legal Aid Society, which represents indigent clients. She was elected New York City Public Advocate in 2013 after serving on the City Council for ten years.

She campaigned for attorney general in 2018 on a platform that included pursuing Trump. She suggested in her victory speech that he was “an affront to everything I believe in” and “someone we must keep under control by the long arm of the law.”

“I will shine a bright light into every dark corner of his real estate dealings, and in every transaction, demanding truthfulness at every opportunity,” she said that evening.

Bruce Green, who directs a center for law and ethics at Fordham University School of Law said political calculations should not influence legal decisions.

“The expectation is that you don’t go after someone for political reasons, that you follow the evidence and the law, that you make decisions based on the facts and not based on prejudice,” he said.

But, Professor Green added, most attorneys general are elected. “And if you’re an elected candidate,” he said, “you need to be able to run for office and make the kind of arguments that will help you get elected as a candidate.”

Despite Republican criticism, the winning streak has fueled speculation that Ms. James, who ran a short-lived campaign for governor in 2021, could eventually take on higher office in a state where There are more Democrats than Republicans more than two to one.

“She is well known and respected,” said Sen. Michael Gianaris, a Queens Democrat who is the deputy majority leader in the House’s upper chamber and his party’s chief political strategist there. “There are a lot of checks in the plus column.”

Mr. Suplina of Everytown for Gun Safety said he appreciated Ms. James’ approach to the NRA, which he said had been “a seemingly invincible political juggernaut for years.”

Such incessant praise would cheer any politician, and Mrs. James has shown her cheerfulness. On Valentine’s Day she posted a piece of doggerel online with a strict message.

“Roses are red and violets are blue,” it read. “No one is above the law, even if you think the rules don’t apply to you.”