NY AG Letitia James says 'we're ready to fight back' in spirited comments after Trump wins presidency

So much for the honeymoon.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Attorney General Letitia James treated President-elect Donald Trump as an enemy in a controversial post-election press conference on Wednesday.

A defiant Hochul announced that she had founded an “Empire State Freedom Initiative” to prepare to fight “political and regulatory threats” from the new Trump administration.

The Democratic governor said she was willing to work with Trump but spent much of her time talking about preparing for a political and legal war.

“You try to harm New Yorkers or roll back their rights, I will fight you every step of the way,” Hochul told reporters in her Manhattan office.

She spoke of possible clashes with Trump over abortion, labor, LGBTQ rights, environmental policy and immigration.

James, meanwhile, said her office was “preparing” for a possible second Trump administration.

“I am prepared to do everything in my power to ensure that our state and our nation do not go backwards,” she said in a statement. “Together with Governor Hochul, our partners in state and local government, and my colleagues, attorneys general from across the country, we will work every day to defend Americans, no matter what this new administration throws at us. We are ready to fight again.”

The attorney general's presence at the news conference was notable and evidence that New York's two top Democratic leaders are preparing to be on contentious, war-like footing with Trump.

James won a $454 million civil fraud judgment against Trump after accusing the business mogul of inflating his net worth by billions of dollars to obtain better credit and insurance terms.

Trump has appealed the massive ruling.

“I am not afraid of Donald Trump. “I wasn’t afraid of Donald Trump,” James told reporters when asked about her case against the former and future president.

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Hochul treated Trump's victory — he won both the election and popular vote nationwide and performed stronger in blue New York than in 2020 — like a funeral.

“New Yorkers will persevere over the next four years,” she said.

Hochul said she expects Trump to repeal the $10,000 limit on state and local tax deductions he approved during his previous term as president and continue to support key New York infrastructure projects such as the Second Avenue subway line expansion and reconstruction of the Hudson River Tunnel.

Trump's Republican allies in New York described Hochul's press conference as taboo and counterproductive for New Yorkers who rely on support from the White House and the federal government.

“Hochul is crazy,” said state Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox.

“This doesn’t help New Yorkers. It’s stupid and bizarre.”

Upstate Rep. Elise Stefanik, chairwoman of the House GOP conference, said, “President Trump has done better in New York than any Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan.” Kathy Hochul has the worst approval ratings of any New York governor in history “, says a statement.

“One of the many reasons Trump overperformed in New York and across the country was the desperate witch hunt of Tish James and the weaponization of the NY AG and Manhattan District Attorney's office to target the political opponents of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to illegally target them.” And he defeated them soundly at the ballot box across the country. I was proud to lead the effort in New York State to push back against illegal legislation,” she said.

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Lee Zeldin, the former Long Island congressman who ran as the Republican candidate against Hochul for governor in 2022, criticized her for spreading “division and hate.”

“Today should be a day for New York and America to put a hard-fought political campaign behind them. “Today could be a great day for Kathy Hochul to reflect on why so many in her party are leaving the ranks in a historic realignment with the Republican Party,” Zeldin said.

“Hochul needs to better understand why most Americans, unlike Hochul, wake up the day after an election and seek unity rather than division and hate. Whether Kathy Hochul realizes it or not, her partisanship is just as toxic the day after an election as the day before, which is why she is becoming increasingly unpopular with the public, both within her party and among most others.”

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said it was “unimaginable” that a governor would disregard and disregard Trump's electoral mandate – including winning hundreds of thousands more votes in New York state than four years ago.

“Instead of being gracious and trying to work together, Hochul took a defiant, belligerent stance toward President-elect Trump. This strategy will contribute to New York’s continued decline,” he said.