In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Eric Trump shared a screenshot of an August survey from the Trafalgar Group showing that James was slightly trailing in the race, with 43 percent of support compared to her Republican opponent’s 44.2 percent.
“Letitia James Polls - not shocking that she is filing a lawsuit against @realDonaldTrump 49 days before her election,” he wrote.
James, who will face reelection on November 8, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Donald Trump, the Trump Organization, senior management and other entities for allegedly “engaging in years of financial fraud to obtain a host of economic benefits.”
The suit accuses the former president of falsely inflating his net worth by billions of dollars with the help of three of his children, including Eric Trump, and senior Trump Organization executives in order to deceive lenders, insurers and tax authorities.
“Mr. Trump thought he could get away with the art of the steal, but today, that conduct ends,” James said in a statement. “There are not two sets of laws for people in this country; we must hold former presidents to the same standards as everyday Americans. I will continue to ensure that no one is able to evade the law, because no one is above it.”
The Trafalgar Group poll shared on Truth Social by Eric Trump was done in conjunction with InsiderAdvantage and conducted from late August to early September, surveying people likely to vote in the 2022 general election. While it shows that James is slightly behind her Republican challenger, Michael Henry, 12.8 percent of respondents said that they were undecided.
This means that James could close the gap at election time, or Henry could widen his lead. Newsweek was not immediately able to locate recent polling on the New York Attorney General race from other sources for comparison.
In a statement shared with Newsweek, a Trump Organization spokesperson said that the lawsuit “has nothing to do with the facts or the law,” but is instead the political targeting of Donald Trump and his company.
The statement highlighted James’ campaign promise to investigate Donald Trump and his business. In a video that was shared on Twitter Wednesday by Eric Trump, James is heard speaking about suing Donald Trump several times, though the wider context of those instances was not immediately clear.
“Three years later, with election day less than 50 days away, Attorney General James, who is down in the polls, is at it again—filing this lawsuit at the eleventh hour in a desperate attempt to pander to voters,” the statement read.
The New York attorney general’s investigation into the former president and his business practices has stretched on for years as the Trump family sought to have the probe dismissed and pushed back against the office’s attempts to obtain evidence and testimony. James has said that the Trump family’s “delay tactics” would not halt the investigation.
In May, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from Donald Trump and the Trump Organization seeking to stop the probe. Earlier this year, state court Judge Arthur Engoron denied a request from members of the Trump family to quash subpoenas linked to the investigation.
In the decision, Engoron pushed back on suggestions that the investigation was based on a personal vendetta against Trump. He wrote that James’ office “has a sufficient legal basis for continuing its investigation, which undercuts the notion that this ongoing investigation is based on personal animus, not facts and law.”
The decision also stated that James, " just like respondent Donald J. Trump, was not deprived of her First Amendment rights to free speech when she was a politician running for a public office with investigatory powers."
Update 9/21/22, 2:40 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.
Update 9/21/22, 1:20 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information and a statement from the Trump Organization.
