WSJ
New York state’s attorney general, to date one of the most vocal
antagonists of President Donald Trump, is preparing to escalate his
office’s litigation against the president’s administration.
Democrat Eric Schneiderman has hired one of the top public-corruption prosecutors under former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara
to focus specifically on issues involving the Trump administration.
Howard Master, who prosecuted the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s case against
longtime New York state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver ,
is expected to work on both continuing and new White House-related
matters for the attorney general, as well as on high-level
public-corruption cases.
The hiring of Mr. Master, whose title
will be senior enforcement counsel, signals Mr. Schneiderman’s continued
intent to take on the Republican president.
Eric
Soufer, a spokesman for Mr. Schneiderman, confirmed Mr. Master’s hiring
and said he “will be working on a wide range of civil and criminal
investigations and enforcement matters, including public corruption,
complex civil litigation” and potentially litigation against the Trump
administration.