Schneiderman’s fall tears hole in anti-Trump coalition

NEW YORK — From his perch as New York attorney general, Eric Schneiderman served as the self-appointed field general of the anti-Trump resistance. Monday’s bombshell abuse allegations changed all that, removing a critical player from the coalition of state Democratic attorneys general confronting the Trump administration on everything from climate policy to immigration.

Schneiderman’s hasty resignation is sparking a scramble to replace him in New York — the position has long been a springboard to national prominence and higher office — but just as important, it’s raising the question of who’ll step into his role.

Story Continued Below

“Schneiderman is gone, and whoever his replacement is … is going to be an equally forceful part of the resistance,” said Garry South, a longtime Democratic strategist in California. “There’s no way around it. It’s New York state. I’m not sure that the actual personnel really matter, because whether the attorney general of California is [Xavier] Becerra or [Democratic challenger] Dave Jones, California’s going to remain on the front lines of the resistance. And I think New York’s in the same boat.”

Aside from perhaps California’s Becerra, no Democratic attorney general has been more aggressive in taking on the Trump administration than Schneiderman. In President Donald Trump’s first year in office, Schneiderman took more than 100 legal and administrative actions against the administration and the Republican-led Congress. In the latest broadside, New York and 16 other states last week sued the Trump administration over efforts to relax vehicle efficiency standards.

The New York attorney general wields extra power in the Trump administration because the president is from here — he lives in New York City, has numerous ownership interests here and has done business here for decades. With Schneiderman’s departure, state and federal law enforcement are, at least temporarily, being deprived of the state official who poses the most immediate danger to Trump.

“It’s even more important today in some ways because of what’s going on in Washington, so it’s an extraordinarily important position,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday during a press conference.

Becerra just last week referred to Schneiderman and more than a dozen Democratic state attorneys general as a “coalition” that he said “will not stand by idly.”

Schneiderman’s reputation as a Democratic icon in the Trump era had grown so strong that comedian Samantha Bee produced an entire segment about him on her weekly cable news show last fall, calling him a “hero” for his challenges to the Trump administration. The video has now been appended with an apology “for characterizing him as a hero.”

One of the women who accused Schneiderman of physical violence, who asked to remain anonymous, told the New Yorker she’d resisted reporting him to law enforcement because of the work he was doing.

“He’s a good attorney general, he’s doing good things. I didn’t want to jeopardize that,” she told the New Yorker.

Republicans and Trump allies seized on the symbolic importance of Schneiderman’s departure even though hundreds of career prosecutors will remain in the attorney general’s office.

“As Schneiderman leaves office in disgrace, his impact and influence with activist Democrat state attorneys general and candidates cannot be overstated,” Republican Attorneys General Association President Leslie Rutledge, the Arkansas attorney general, said in a statement to POLITICO. “While there will be a reckoning for those who directly benefited from his political power, unfortunately, there remain plenty of activist Democrat attorneys general who will push each other down to lead the charge against the rule of law.”

Schneiderman’s latest action against the Trump administration came just hours before the story broke, when he announced he was leading a coalition of states urging the Environmental Protection Agency to halt a rule change that would restrict the kinds of scientific studies the agency could use when crafting policies.

One case pursued by Schneiderman’s office resulted in a Brooklyn federal judge’s ruling in February blocking Trump’s wind-down of the Obama-era federal program protecting so-called DREAMers. Schneiderman’s former colleagues are all but certain to follow through on the litigation. There are also other lawsuits — one brought by Becerra — that won similar relief and are working their way through the courts.

Attorneys general have traditionally held a coveted position in their states’ political hierarchies, with the office often serving as platform to run for higher office.

Schneiderman held special significance because of Trump’s ties to New York, with the potential to bring state cases against Trump and his associates.

Schneiderman’s Russia-related inquiries were already on the back burner due to a decision to allow special counsel Robert Mueller to take the lead on those matters, at least for now. Because of New York’s role at the center of the Trump business empire, the New York attorney general’s office may have a unique role to play as a back-up on Russia-related inquiries and other Trump Organization-related matters federal investigators are reportedly pursuing.

“That office is the ace in the hole for anyone who wants to make sure that Trump can’t pardon his way to immunity from prosecution,” said Jamie Court, president of the California-based consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog. “The New York attorney general not only has tremendous power to make sure that Michael Cohen and other potential witnesses play ball rather than thinking they’re going to get a free pass from a presidential pardon. But he also has a lot of control over Wall Street and developments there, and over the type of investigations that can go on into Trump’s business enterprises.”

What has helped fuel Schneiderman’s national profile is a law unique to New York called the Martin Act, which allows the state attorney to pursue cases of alleged financial fraud outside of the state, as Schneiderman did with Exxon, AIG and Bank of America. The Wall Street Journal editorial board on Tuesday used the Schneiderman scandal to once again call for the law’s repeal.

For consumer advocates, Court said, “I think that we all felt much better knowing that there was an aggressive attorney general from New York ready to take the president’s colleagues to state court, where they couldn’t be pardoned.” But Court described Schneiderman’s behavior as a “dangerous thing” and said, “He had to go, but the question is, who is Cuomo going to replace him with who will be as much of a threat?”

Trump’s election drew unprecedented public attention to the offices of Democratic attorneys general. Schneiderman and fellow Democrats immediately became point people in their states in the resistance to Trump, while Trump has come to define their tenures. Becerra, campaigning to maintain the California post he was appointed to, devoted his first TV ads of the election cycle to his opposition to Trump.

Still, political observers inside and outside of New York were skeptical that Schneiderman’s departure would dramatically alter the shape of states’ anti-Trump litigation.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who had a strong working relationship with Schneiderman, said the future of the office’s progress is in the hands of the staff members Schneiderman leaves behind.

“The women and men who serve in the New York Attorney General’s Office who serve every day to enforce the laws and protect the rights of all Americans,” Healey said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the next Attorney General of New York to continue that important work.”

Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York and the former head of the New York State Office of Climate Change, said he wasn’t concerned about the impact of Schneiderman’s resignation on ongoing environmental litigation, in part because it’s likely that anyone who replaces him will also be a Democrat in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 3 to 1.

“I don‘t expect anything to change, because we’re not talking about an election where a different political ideology could come into office,” Iwanowicz told POLITICO.

Still, in New York political circles, Schneiderman’s resignation has prompted a furious scramble over who will succeed him. Career prosecutors in the attorney general’s office and Cuomo, who previously held the office himself, are hoping the state Legislature, which has the authority to name Schneiderman’s successor, will take their time making a choice because of the high-stakes litigation the office is involved in.

Schneiderman’s departure automatically elevated state Solicitor General Barbara Underwood to the role of interim attorney general. Attorneys and Schneiderman’s aides described Underwood as tremendously accomplished and competent and are pushing for her tenure as interim attorney general to be extended, in the name of maintaining some continuity over the office’s ongoing cases.

Any appointed attorney general would still face the need for reelection in the fall, when Schneiderman was supposed to be running for reelection to a third term.

Schneiderman’s spokesperson Amy Spitalnick said in a tweet Tuesday, “This morning, I’m grateful to work with the best colleagues in the business — including Barbara Underwood, who will be acting NY AG. She’s argued 20 cases before SCOTUS, clerked for Thurgood Marshall, much more. The work continues.”

Underwood, who also served under Cuomo when he was attorney general, earned praise from Cuomo on Tuesday.

“She is an extraordinarily competent woman,” the governor said.

In a statement Tuesday afternoon, Underwood tried to assuage fears about Schneiderman’s departure. “The work of this office is critically important. Our office has never been stronger, and this extraordinarily talented, dedicated, and tireless team of public servants will ensure that our work continues without interruption.”

Josh Gerstein and Lauren Dezenski contributed to this report.

Share and Enjoy