Who is popular today?

NEW YORK, United States (AP) - Former President Donald Trump sued New York Attorney General Letitia James yesterday, resorting to a familiar but seldom successful strategy as he seeks to end a years-long civil investigation into his business practices that he alleges is purely political.In the lawsuit, filed in federal court two weeks after James requested that Trump sit for a January 7 deposition, Trump contended the probe into matters including his company's valuation of assets has violated his constitutional rights in a "thinly-veiled effort to publicly malign Trump and his associates".The lawsuit describes James, a Democrat, as having "personal disdain for Trump" and pointed to numerous statements she's made targeting him in recent years, including her support of "die-in" protests against him, her boast that her office sued his Administration 76 times, and tweets during her 2018 campaign that she had her "eyes on Trump Tower" and that Trump was "running out of time"."Her mission is guided solely by political animus and a desire to harass, intimidate, and retaliate against a private citizen who she views as a political opponent," the former president's lawyers wrote in the lawsuit filed on behalf of Trump and his company, the Trump Organization.In a statement, James said: "The Trump Organization has continually sought to delay our investigation into its business dealings and now Donald Trump and his namesake company have filed a lawsuit as an attempted collateral attack on that investigation."To be clear, neither Mr Trump nor the Trump Organization get to dictate if and where they will answer for their actions. Our investigation will continue undeterred because no one is above the law, not even someone with the name Trump."James had announced a run for New York governor in late October, but earlier this month she suspended that campaign and cited ongoing investigations in her decision to instead seek re-election as state attorney general.News of the lawsuit, filed in upstate New York, was first reported by The New York Times. The case is assigned to Judge Brenda Sannes in Syracuse, who was appointed in 2014 by Trump's predecessor President Barack Obama, a Democrat, but preliminary proceedings will be handled by a magistrate judge in Albany, which isn't unusual for federal court.Trump, a Republican, seeks a permanent injunction barring James from investigating him and preventing her from being involved in any "civil or criminal" investigations against him and his company, such as a parallel criminal probe she's a part of that's being led by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr Trump also wants a judge to declare that James violated his free speech and due process rights.New York University law professor Stephen Gillers said that, while it's clear James "gave Trump ammunition to argue that she has a vendetta against him", the lawsuit remains a long shot for Trump, who has lost multiple lawsuits aimed at foiling investigators, including a multi-year US Supreme Court fight that ended in February with Vance obtaining his tax records."During her campaign for attorney general James foolishly stressed her intent to target Trump and his businesses if elected," Gillers said. "Nonetheless, I think a federal court will want stronger proof of James' partiality than Trump can muster. It's very hard to get a federal court to stop a state investigation when state courts are available to review any misconduct."James has spent more than two years investigating whether the Trump Organization misled banks or tax officials about the value of assets - inflating them to gain favourable loan terms or minimising them to reap tax savings.Last year, James' investigators interviewed one of Trump's sons, Trump Organization executive Eric Trump. Her office went to court to enforce a subpoena on the younger Trump, who's listed as president of a Trump company that controls one of the assets James has been scrutinising, and a judge forced him to testify after his lawyers abruptly cancelled a previously scheduled deposition.Trump's lawsuit didn't explicitly mention James' request for his testimony, aside from a brief reference. But it's clear he won't be showing up January 7, James' requested date, to answer questions voluntarily. As with Eric Trump, James' office will now likely have to issue a subpoena and go to a judge to order the former president to cooperate.