(NewsNation) — New York State Attorney General Letitia James said her office is “prepared to fight back once again” when Donald Trump becomes president of the United States.
“If possible, we will work with the administration but will not compromise values, integrity and principles,” James said in a statement delivered to reporters Wednesday.
“We did not expect this result, but we are prepared to respond to this result,” James said, adding that “we are prepared to fight back once again.”
James also congratulated Trump on his victory, but did not address what her office may do about the sentencing of Trump on Nov. 26 for his conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
While Trump could pardon himself for the federal crimes of which he’s accused, he has no power to pardon himself on the conviction in New York nor the 2020-related crimes he faces in Georgia.
In September, a federal judge swiftly rejected Trump’s request to move the case to federal court so that he could seek to have his conviction overturned in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling.
Moving forward, James said that she and other attorneys general have been preparing for the future.
“We’ve been here before. We faced this challenge before. And we used the rule of law to fight back. And we are prepared to fight back once again,” she said
James said her office took “nearly 100” legal actions against the previous Trump administration, including what she said were White House attempts to eliminate federal grants intended for law enforcement agencies.
“We know their playbook. We know Project 2025 before it was even published,” adding that she and other Democratic Attorneys General have been working in concert “to respond to any attempt to roll back our rights.”
“No matter what the next administration throws at us, we’re ready,” James declared.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
