Irate state Republicans want to bottle up a sneaky $10 million “slush fund” that could be used to pay Attorney General Letitia James’ legal bills as she faces a criminal probe.
Not a penny should be spent from the controversial fund that Democrats slipped into New York’s 2026 budget, state Senate Republicans urged Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli in a letter obtained by The Post.
Certain New York officials can tap into the fund to pay for legal expenses, even as part of probes not related to their state employment – a provision widely seen as giving James a path to pay for her legal defense during US Justice Department probes into her alleged fraudulent real estate dealings.
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The letter avoids mentioning James by name, but parrots the Democrat’s own words from when she launched her ultimately successful civil prosecution of President Trump.
“As someone once said, no one is above the law,” the letter signed by Senate GOP Minority Leader Robert Ortt and 21 other Republicans states.
“This proposed use of public money is a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars. It undermines public trust in government and sends a troubling message that elected officials and state employees are entitled to a publicly-funded legal defense, even for matters entirely disconnected from their public responsibilities.”
DiNapoli, as state comptroller, would have to sign off on drawing down the $10 million to reimburse the legal costs of James or other state employees – a move that the Senate Republicans implored him to not carry out.
The missive comes as James braces for a potentially bruising legal fight with Trump’s DOJ.
The FBI and US Attorney’s Office in Albany are investigating accusations that James falsified records to get favorable loans on a Virginia home she bought in 2023 and a Brooklyn brownstone she has owned since 2001.
The US Attorney for the Northern District, led by Trump ally John Sarcone III, is overseeing the James’ probe — resulting from a criminal referral from Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte to the DOJ last month.
James and her high-powered attorney Abbe David Lowell have argued the mortgage fraud allegations are a meritless assault in a post-election “revenge tour” by Trump – who’s still stewing over the $454 million civil fraud judgment that the attorney general won against him and his real estate firm.
Lowell, who was one of Hunter Biden’s top lawyers, was retained by the attorney general’s office rather than James in her personal capacity, which means New York taxpayers will eventually foot the bill for his services.
James plans to rely on both state funds and a private legal defense fund to fight the battle, a spokesman for the AG’s Office confirmed last week.
The fund OK’d by Albany Democrats would cover “any reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses incurred” by state employees facing “discriminatory or retaliatory treatment” by the federal government after Trump was set to return to office for a second term.
A spokesperson for DiNapoli confirmed receiving the letter urging him to reject payouts from the fund but had no further comment.
James’ office referred The Post to Lowell’s past comments.
“This appears to be the political retribution President Trump threatened to exact that (US Attorney General Pam) Bondi assured the Senate would not occur on her watch,” Lowell said in a statement last week.
