Mary Trump and Patricia Arquette lead delighted reaction as lawsuit against Trump family announced

“Whatever the outcome of the James case, a day in which a prosecutor declared at a press conference that Trump isn’t worth what he claims is a day he’s tried to avoid for decades,” Maggie Haberman says

Mary Trump and actress Patricia Arquette led a delighted reaction of Twitter users after news broke that a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, three of his children, and several others, had been filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

“Today, I filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump for engaging in years of financial fraud to enrich himself, his family, and the Trump Organization. There aren’t two sets of laws for people in this nation: former presidents must be held to the same standards as everyday Americans,” Ms James tweeted on Wednesday.

“With the help of Donald Jr, Eric, Ivanka, and other defendants, Trump variously unlawfully inflated and deflated his net worth by billions to obtain and satisfy loans, get insurance benefits, and pay lower taxes. In short, he lied to gain massive financial benefits for himself,” she added.

Mr Trump’s niece Mary Trump simply wrote: “Well, then.”

“Melania divorce countdown has begun,” Ms Arquette tweeted, adding a gif of Europe singing The Final Countdown from 1986.

Ms James went on to tweet that her investigation “found that Trump, his family, and the Trump Org used fraudulent and misleading asset valuations over 200 times in 10 years on his annual financial statements. These statements were then used to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and insurance coverage”.

MSNBC host Alex Wagner wrote: “Trump valued Mar A Lago at $739 million — the real value is closer to $75 million. He bought his Jupiter golf course for $5 mill — the next year he valued it at $62 million. A markup of 1,100%. Just wow”

“‘Deutsche Bank has been cooperating with this office’ has to be one of the more terrifying-to-Trump things Tish James said this morning,” writer Joshua Benton tweeted.

“The more I read about the NY AG civil fraud case against Trump, the more I wonder how Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg could possibly have rejected indicting him for criminal fraud,” lawyer Tristan Snell wrote. “When he pled the Fifth last month before the NY AG, Trump may have effectively sacrificed his entire real estate empire to keep himself out of prison.”

“Whatever the outcome of the James case, a day in which a prosecutor declared at a press conference that Trump isn’t worth what he claims is a day he’s tried to avoid for decades,” Maggie Haberman of The New York Times said.

Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich tweeted: “More than 200 alleged instances of fraud? On top of an unrelated investigation into violations of the Espionage Act. On top of an unrelated investigation into an attempted coup... ‘No one is above the law’ is only true if we make it so. Prosecute Trump.”

“While Tisch James may be on the verge of wiping out ALL of Trump’s real estate assests....remember, Fred Trump didn’t want black families in his buildings,” MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle added in reference to the former president’s father and his New York real estate business.

“Reminder- In 2015, Donald Trump vowed to bring his business acumen and success to the White House and give the American people the excellence he brought to his real estate empire. He told us that was far more valuable than experience in government,” Ms Ruhle tweeted.

“The juxtaposition of two events in NYC today - Biden’s speech to the UN and the NY AG’s fraud suit against the Trumps - underscores the simplest contrast: a decent man who believes in the American experiment has replaced an indecent con man, who does not, as president of the US,” journalist John Harwood wrote.