Attorney General James Readying Legal Action on President Trump’s Illegal ‘Anarchist Jurisdiction’ Designation

Unlawful Designation Aimed at Cutting Off Funding to NYC

Trump Hypocritically Now Defunding Police

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today released the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) labeling New York City — along with Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington — with an ‘anarchist jurisdiction,’ after a presidential memorandum released earlier this month by President Donald Trump asked the DOJ to assess whether funds should be cut off to New York City and the two other cities:

“As the nation moves towards 200,000 deaths from COVID-19 and as tens of millions remain out of work, President Trump is trying to distract the American people from his failures as a leader and is using the last few months of his presidency to sow more chaos, more hatred, and more fear. This designation is nothing more than a pathetic attempt to scare Americans into voting for a commander-in-chief who is actually incapable of commanding our nation. President Trump failed to listen to scientists, failed to steer our economy through this pandemic, and has repeatedly failed to bring our nation together. The president should be prepared to defend this illegal order in court, which hypocritically lays the groundwork to defund New York and the very types of law enforcement President Trump pretends to care about. We have beat the president and the illegal actions of his DOJ in court before and have no doubt we will beat them again.”