Trump’s attorney alleges that Attorney General James is engaging in ‘extortion’ in New York case

A few days after a New York appeals court judge paused a gag order that forbade Donald Trump from remarking on court staffers in his civil fraud trial, the former president’s attorney Alina Habba accused New York Attorney General Letitia James of “extortion” and “fighting for Deutsche Bank” in an interview with the Daily Mail on Tuesday.

“It would be a very difficult position for me to advise my client at this point to pay for what is effectively extortion,” Habba told the publication when asked about speculation that the case could be nearing a plea deal. “Letitia James is fighting for Deutsche Bank.”

James has stated that the Trump Organization used Deutsche Bank, its single largest credit lender, by inflating the value of its companies to secure favorable loans for Trump’s hotels.

Habba fired back by saying, “what harm did the Trump Organization do? They have created 1,000 jobs. They pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes … they have single-handedly changed the skyline of the city.”

As far as a possible penalty that Trump could be barred from doing business in New York, Habba said, “I don’t think he’ll be so sad to leave at this point. I know he has good memories of it. I just don’t think the city is what it was.”

Last week, Judge Arthur Engoron rejected Trump’s demands for a mistrial after his lawyers argued that the judge had displayed political bias, including Engoron’s close consultation with his law clerk Allison Greenfield, who has been receiving threats.

Remarking on the lifting of the gag order, Habba told the Daily Mail that “the appellate division saw this for what this was — it was an unconstitutional exercise of a gag order without due process.”

Trump’s lawyers are expected to bring this week a series of expert witnesses to testify on the former president’s behalf as the trial enters its second month.

Engoron ruled before the trial began that Trump and his co-defendants were liable for fraud, and he will decide the punishment when the trial ends.

James has asked that Trump be fined $250 million and he be barred from doing business in New York.

Trump denies any wrongdoing, insisting the assets did not have an objective value and varying valuations are standard in real estate.