Letitia James

 Letitia James: the state attorney general of New York who oversaw the collapse of the Trump Organization

Throughout the trial, James was subjected to a torrent of personal assaults, yet she emerged victorious in her most well-known case to date.

A tiny group of demonstrators momentarily stopped traffic to express their disapproval of the former president on the morning when Donald Trump's dramatic New York fraud trial was about to enter its closing arguments. The gathering chanted, "No dictators in the USA."

The demonstrators veered off route when a black SUV approached the courthouse. I'm grateful, Tish! They yelled, "Thank you, Tish!" as Letitia James climbed the courthouse stairs.

The highest-profile case handled by the New York attorney general to date came to an end with the conclusion of Trump's fraud trial. James has been the trial's public face from the beginning, even though a group of attorneys from her office handled the case. Being seated behind Trump in court and occasionally glaring at him and his entourage with looks worthy of a meme, she has unavoidably become the object of his wrath both within and outside the courtroom.

Trump posted on Truth Social in January, all caps, "I DID NOTHING WRONG, MY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS ARE GREAT, & VERY CONSERVATIVE, THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT THE HIGHLY POLITICAL & TOTALLY CORRUPT NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL SAYS." "BUSINESSES ARE LEAVING NEW YORK AS THE CORRUPT AG WANTS $370M." THEY OWE ME MONEY.

James stayed silent during the trial, sharing weekly updates about its progress on social media and occasionally making remarks outside the courtroom. James told reporters on the final day of the trial, long after Trump had left the courtroom after making an odd closing speech, that he wasn't really bothered by the personal assaults.

James received a surprise victory on Friday. Arthur Engoron, the presiding judge, granted her nearly all of her requests. Trump and his eldest sons were prohibited from conducting business in New York for years, and he was fined more than $350 million.

"Justice has been served today. James said in a statement, "This is a huge win for this state, this country, and for everyone who thinks we should all play by the same rules—even previous presidents. "To falsely inflate his financial wealth and unfairly enrich himself, his family, and his company, Donald Trump engaged in tremendous fraud for years.

"At last, Donald Trump is being held responsible for his egregious deception, lying, and cheating. Since nobody is above the law, regardless of how large, wealthy, or powerful they may believe themselves to be.

James used this defense throughout her 2018 campaign for the attorney general position. The post was mired in controversy at the time due to allegations of abuse by former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

James, who grew up in Brooklyn with her seven siblings, attended public schools before attending Howard University in Washington, DC, to earn her law degree. She started out as a public defender and worked her way up to become a councilmember and public advocate in New York. She was the first Black woman to occupy the position of watchdog and filed a record number of lawsuits on behalf of tenants, pensioners, and persons with disabilities.

James pledged to "take that power back" from corporate America and dishonest politicians after becoming the first Black woman to win the attorney general's position.

In her 2019 inaugural speech, she declared, "The law is the biggest pillar of our democracy and the great equalizer." "I'll be a steward of justice and shine a light into the darkest of swamps."

James is continuing to pursue other well-known cases even as Trump's fraud trial draws to a close, such as a civil lawsuit against senior NRA executives. James has charged them with breaking non-profit law by taking personal use of NRA funding.

The once-dominant gun advocacy group may finally dissolve as a result of this case. In what James called a "significant victory" for the lawsuit, Wayne LaPierre, the longtime NRA president at the crux of the case, resigned in early January, just before the trial started.

James has also discovered adversaries in the Catholic church, whom she has sued for failing to properly handle child sexual abuse, and the New York Police Department for how it handled BLM demonstrators in 2020. James also brought legal action against Pepsi in November due to the beverage company's single-use plastic pollution of the Buffalo River in New York, setting the stage for a significant environmental case against the New York-based business.

James was a longtime councilwoman for New York City before being appointed the state's attorney general. Her detractors, who are mostly Trump's political or legal rivals, have attempted to portray her as an opportunist who takes use of her position to garner national prominence.

Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York and James' ally, claimed that James was conducting the sexual assault inquiry for political purposes.

Cuomo stated, "There are many agendas and there are many motivations at play," in his parting speech in August 2021, following the revelation of James's inquiry that he had raped eleven women.

Trump leveled similar charges against James during his trial, claiming both inside and outside the courtroom that she is engaged in a "witch-hunt" to further her personal political goals.

"This is a disgrace that a case like this is going on, and she's a political hack," Trump declared in one of his unhinged outbursts on the witness stand in November. "I think she should be ashamed of herself; this is a political witch-hunt."

Being a state attorney general is thought to be a decent way to get a shot at becoming the governor of a state. James entered a short-lived, six-week campaign for governor in 2021. When it became apparent that a significant portion of the state's Democratic party was supporting Kathy Hochul, the lieutenant governor who succeeded Cuomo upon his resignation, she withdrew from the contest.

She declared that she "must continue my work as attorney general" when James withdrew from the campaign. Her office was deep into its financial examination of the Trump Organization at the time.

James declared, "I intend to finish the job. There are a number of important investigations and cases that are underway."

Given that neither the governor nor the attorney general of New York have term restrictions, it is unclear what particular goals James has for her future.

James has distanced herself from the governor on several issues, even though she has positioned herself as an ally of Hochul, who is thought to be a more moderate Democrat. James made the unprecedented decision in August to withdraw from representing Hochul due to concerns about how immigrants were being handled in the state. Hochul concentrated on the demand that only New York City provide housing for migrants, which James stated she thought covered the entire state.

James has persisted in stating that her attention is currently on the matters in her office. Republican opponent of James in the 2022 contest for a second term, which she would win by a margin of nine points, claimed to the New York Times that James had become too preoccupied with her own political goals and had forgotten about the needs of New York taxpayers.

James retorted to the Times, saying it would have been a "dereliction of my duty" to ignore Trump or the NRA.

"We've been really busy," she said to the newspaper. "And since this is who I am and what I do, I sincerely apologi