U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) on Wednesday shared a link to the New York Post article entitled ‘Taxpayers Could Be on the Hook for NY AG Tish James’s Legal Bills.’
The MAGA-aligned Congresswoman added her own summary: “Kathy Hochul and Albany Democrats slipped language into their budget that would allow taxpayer funds to be used to defend corrupt Letitia James from the federal investigation into her alleged fraudulent real estate dealings.” (James has said the allegations are “baseless.”)
BREAKING NEWS: Kathy Hochul and Albany Democrats slipped language into their budget that would allow taxpayer funds to be used to defend corrupt Letitia James from the federal investigation into her alleged fraudulent real estate dealings.https://t.co/ScSZ87Q4Ug — Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) May 7, 2025
Many MAGA supporters are irate at the idea of taxpayer funds being used to defend the New York Attorney General who famously filed a civil suit against Donald Trump in between his two terms as president. James’s case resulted in penalties and a fine of $355 million for Trump. More than one Trump supporter replied in disbelief, “How can this be legal?”
As the NY Post pointed out: “Under New York law, current and former state employees can be reimbursed for legal fees to defend themselves against lawsuits directly related to their work while in office, such as is the case with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — whose various scandals are estimated to have cost taxpayers $60 million and counting.”
While Stefanik echoes the Post’s language and says the Democrats “slipped” $10 million of legal defense funds into the budget, some Democrats aren’t hiding their intent.
Albany State Senate Democrat Pat Fahy contended that James, in his view, is being targeted by the Trump administration specifically as a vendetta — and that if she weren’t representing the citizens of New York she would have no need to pay legal bills, which he asserts are a direct consequence of her job.
Fahy said: “When you are being targeted, as an elected official under certain constraints, we do have an ability to turn to others for legal services unless it’s for something like sexual abuse or some other type of egregious felony. But when it is because of the office you hold, there are certain reasons to that, we want the Attorney General to be doing our bidding, and yes, she has come under some personal attacks as a result of it.”
The language in the legislation does not specify who the recipient(s) might be, nor does is mention the political affiliation of the potential recipient(s). Conceivably someone like convicted former Congressman George Santos could have access to such funds.
[In 2021, James’s office released a report “finding that Cuomo engaged in multiple acts of sexual harassment,” which the governor denied, and another report which asserted that the Cuomo administration undercounted by about 50 percent the deaths of nursing home residents during the Covid-19 outbreak.]
Note: Stefanik is reportedly considering a run in the 2026 gubernatorial election and Cuomo is currently running for Mayor of New York City.