Donald Trump Blames 1989 Exxon Move to Texas on Current New York AG Multiple Times

Donald Trump's civil fraud trial is coming to a close and the former President was in New York City today to deliver closing arguments. During breaks in the trial, Trump met with the media to disparage New York City Attorney General Letitia James, continuing to claim that she is unfairly targeting him and he's done nothing wrong.

This is not a new story from Trump but he chose an odd new angle to throw out there to try and convince people he's right. On multiple occasions on Thursday, Trump said James "went after" the gas giant Exxon, which caused them to leave New York and move to Texas. Which is bad because they took all their jobs and money with them. The problem is that Exxon moved to Texas in 1989.

Here's the first occasion, taking place inside the NYC courthouse where his trial is being held.

Trump said the same thing later on during a more proper news conference.

To clarify, James did not go after Exxon back in 1989. She was 31 years-old and had just been licensed to practice law in New York state.

What Trump might be referencing is a 2019 lawsuit filed by James' predeccesor in the Attorney General's office, Barbara Underwood. According to Forbes, she went up against Exxon claiming they "downplayed the risk of climate change" and defrauded their investors in the process. The existence of this lawsuit may be the through line of Trump's accusations-- that a New York AG battled ExxonMobile in court and made an enemy of the company.

But, obviously, it had nothing to do with Exxon's choice to move from New York to Texas. The public reason Exxon left is quite simple. The president of the company at the time said they left because it was too expensive to operate in New York. So they moved to Texas.

Above all it is unclear what Trump was hoping to gain by making this accusation, but it is false and unlikely to move the needle in the public opinion department in regards to his case.