Trump Organization slams probe; Trump Jr. calls feds ‘Stalinist’

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump Organization fired back at investigations into its business Monday, demanding a House panel end its probe because of ethical conflicts and accusing federal prosecutors in Manhattan of “Stalinist” tactics.

The Trump Organization said in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee that a lawyer assisting its investigation, Barry Berke, has tainted the panel’s work because he is partner at a law firm that has represented the family company for more than a quarter of a century. Separately, President Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., accused federal prosecutors in a “Fox & Friends” interview of resorting to “Stalinist” tactics as they investigate the president’s inaugural committee and company.

In his letter to the House panel, Trump Organization lawyer Alan Futerfas said hiring Berke, a partner at Kramer Levin in New York, violates “basic ethical precepts that govern the legal profession” and his help “irreparably taints the Committee’s work.”

The letter to House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York demands the panel cease its investigation and hand over all his emails, text messages and other communication with the committee.

Kramer Levin said in an emailed statement that Berke’s assistance to the committee violates no ethical rules and that the firm has worked with the Trump Organization on mostly minor tasks, such preparing amendments to offering plans for condominium sales. It said the letter “grossly misstated the facts of our prior representations.”

A spokesperson for the House Judiciary Committee majority said Berke was working for it only in his personal capacity, and the assertions in the Trump letter were “without merit.”

In his TV interview, Trump Jr. said the investigation is “as political as it gets.”

The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment.