Trump blasts New York lawsuit: 'I won't settle this case!'

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump lashed out at "sleazy New York Democrats" on Thursday after the state's attorney general sued him, three of his children and his foundation, saying he used the charity as his "personal checkbook."Trump vowed that he would never settle the case, brought by current Attorney General Barbara Underwood. The president took to Twitter on Thursday to blame the action on "disciples" of former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who resigned in May after four women in a magazine article accused him of physical abuse."The sleazy New York Democrats, and their now disgraced (and run out of town) A.G. Eric Schneiderman, are doing everything they can to sue me on a foundation that took in $18,800,000 and gave out to charity more money than it took in, $19,200,000. I won’t settle this case!" Trump wrote on Twitter.Underwood charged in the lawsuit that the Trump Foundation engaged in "extensive unlawful political coordination" with Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. The case, filed in the state Supreme Court in Manhattan, followed a 21-month investigation that began on Schneiderman's watch.She said the foundation engaged in "repeated and willful self-dealing" to benefit Trump's personal, business and political interests, including a buying a portrait of Trump for $10,000 at a charity auction and using it to decorate a Trump golf course.An official for the watchdog group Common Cause said the New York investigation provided details of actions that could also violate a federal ban on campaigns funneling "soft money" through nonprofits.The lawsuit seeks $2.8 million of restitution plus penalties, a 10-year ban on Trump serving as a director of a New York nonprofit, and one-year bans for his children.Trump noted that Schneiderman ran the New York campaign for former US Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent in 2016."Schneiderman, who ran the Clinton campaign in New York, never had the guts to bring this ridiculous case, which lingered in their office for almost 2 years," Trump said on Twitter. "Now he resigned his office in disgrace and his disciples brought it when we would not settle."The Trump Foundation blasted the suit as "politics at its very worst," saying the charity had spent more than it had received in donations.Its statement accused the New York attorney general of holding $1.7 million in foundation assets "hostage for political gain."