A former surrogate for President Joe Biden said Democratic Attorney General Letitia James of New York made her pursuit of a civil case against former President Donald Trump appear to be “politically motivated” by commenting on Trump’s appearance at the trial.

James sued Trump in September 2022, accusing him of overstating the value of multiple real-estate properties, including Mar-a-Lago, the Florida estate he owns, in order to receive loans. Judge Arthur F. Engoron ruled that Trump committed fraud while building his real estate empire Sept. 26, and ordered that several business licenses Trump held be rescinded.

“The Donald Trump show is over,” James said to reporters after the third day of the civil trial Wednesday, according to Axios. “This was nothing more than a political stunt, a fundraising stop.”

“I think the process should play out,” Kevin Walling, a surrogate for President Joe Biden during his 2020 campaign, told Fox News host Martha MacCallum after she played clips of James’s comments on the campaign trail. “I hate the fact that, you know, you have the attorney general out there saying those words because again, that’s a distraction.”

James promised to investigate Trump during her 2018 campaign for attorney general, labeling him an “illegitimate president” and repeating that promise after she was elected.

“It’s right to sometimes jump to the conclusion that she’s politically motivated when you play clips like that,” Walling added. “The law should be separate from that.”

Trump has called the case against him a “sham” and argued that the loans in question were fully paid off, a fact noted by CNN legal analyst Elie Honig.

Harold Hutchison on October 6, 2023