A staunch ally of President-elect Donald Trump who threatened to put New York Attorney General Letitia James’ “fat ass in prison” clarified Friday that his words did not reflect the once and future commander in chief’s thoughts.
“As I have made crystal clear, I do not speak for President Trump or anyone else,” said Mike Davis, who heads up the conservative judicial advocacy group Article III Project, in a statement posted on X.
“Like tens of millions of other private citizens, I am outraged by the lawfare and weaponization of our system of justice, including the New York Attorney General’s political crusade,” he added. “All of the witch hunts have to end so our Republic can survive and prosper under the leadership of President Trump.”
Davis had been rumored as a potential pick to be Trump’s next attorney general or a member of the White House Counsel’s Office — but dismissed the speculation elsewhere in his statement.
“I strongly support President Trump and will always continue to do so,” he said. “Having said that, again, I am not going into his administration and am not under consideration for Attorney General.”
The co-chairs of the Democratic Attorneys General Association had lashed out at Davis for his “deplorable rhetoric” about sending James, 66, to the slammer.
“While characteristic of the deplorable rhetoric used by Trump and his allies to intimidate and silence those they perceive as enemies, Davis’s comments constitute not only a threat to a democratically-elected Attorney General whose job is to stand up for law and order, but also to anyone who fights for justice,” said Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings:
“But these threats won’t scare us into submission. AG James, we have your back. And as Democratic Attorneys General, we’ll fight right alongside you in protecting our democracy and civil liberties, without fear or intimidation.”
A former senior aide for judicial nominations to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on the upper chamber’s Judiciary Committee, Davis has repeatedly excoriated President Biden’s Justice Department and other state or local prosecutors — accusing them of abusing their power to pursue unprecedented criminal indictments of the 45th president.
“I dare you to try to continue your lawfare against President Trump in his second term,” Davis warned James during a recent appearance on conservative podcaster Benny Johnson’s show.
“Listen here, sweetheart,” Davis added. “We’re not messing around this time and we will put your fat ass in prison for conspiracy against rights. I promise you that.”
James should “think long and hard” before violating any more of Trump’s “constitutional rights or any other Americans’ constitutional rights,” he went on. “It’s not going to happen again.”
James declared Wednesday after the former president’s landslide electoral victory that her prosecutors have been “preparing for several months” to “use the rule of law to fight back” against a second Trump administration.
The New York AG already won a massive $454 million civil fraud judgment against the soon-to-be 47th president earlier this year after filing a suit that argued he inflated his net worth by billions to get better loan and insurance terms to build his real estate empire.
That ruling is currently before a panel of New York appeals court judges, some of whom have expressed skepticism about the nine-figure payment Trump had been ordered to make.
Judge Peter Moulton, one of the panel jurists, said the “immense penalty in this case is troubling.”
“When they couldn’t beat him, they tried to bankrupt him,” Vice President-elect JD Vance said of the civil suit in a 2024 campaign speech that was clipped and later turned into a closing ad for the Republican nominee.
The DOJ’s two cases against Trump for allegedly conspiring to overturn Biden’s 2020 election victory and allegedly retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Fla., are also being wound down as the president-elect prepares to take the oath of office Jan. 20.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan is also considering tossing out Trump’s conviction for falsifying business records about the reimbursement of “hush money” payments to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
A fourth criminal case in Georgia related to the 2020 election has been stalled by legal drama after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was found to have been in a romantic relationship with one of her top prosecutors.
Reps for James’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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