New York State Attorney General Letitia James. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)

Attorneys from New York Attorney General Letitia James' office wrote in a new filing that President Donald Trump's attempt to amend a lawsuit against her and another state official over a law in New York that would disclose his state tax returns to Congress wasn't enough to keep the litigation in Washington, D.C.

It's the second time her office has made the argument since Trump filed the lawsuit in Washington, D.C., federal court last month, but the conditions have changed in recent weeks.

Since she first moved to toss the lawsuit or transfer it to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, attorneys for Trump have added Rep. Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts, chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee, and Andrew Grossman, the chief tax counsel of the committee, as defendants in the litigation.

But that, along with other attempts from Trump's attorneys to tie James and State Tax Commissioner Michael Schmidt to Washington, D.C., still weren't enough to keep the lawsuit in the district, as long as they're on it, the state's attorneys wrote in the new motion to dismiss.

"Even after amending his complaint as of right in response to the New York Defendants' original motion to dismiss, Plaintiff remains unable to allege any facts to support this Court's exercise of general jurisdiction over the New York Defendants, officials who reside in New York as required by law and work primarily in New York," they wrote.

The lawsuit was brought by Trump's attorneys last month to block Neal from using a New York state law that allows three chairpersons of committees in Congress to request the state tax filings of Trump, as well as most other elected or appointed in the Empire State.

Trump is represented by William Consovoy and Patrick Strawbridge of Consovoy McCarthy.

They initially named James, Schmidt and the Ways and Means Committee as defendants. Attorneys for James moved earlier this month to either remove her and Schmidt from the suit or have it sent to federal court in Manhattan.

Aside from adding Neal and Grossman to the litigation, the amended version of Trump's lawsuit also tried to tie James and Schmidt to Washington, D.C., to support their choice in venue.

James, they wrote, routinely files litigation in Washington, D.C., courts and has regularly appeared in the district for events, seminars and other meetings. They pointed, specifically, to a lecture she gave at Howard University in April and a press conference she held at the U.S. Supreme Court.

They also said James has made "substantial campaign expenditures" in Washington, D.C., and received donations from individuals within the district.

Schmidt lived and worked in Washington, D.C., as a policy analyst at the start of the decade and also was an economic policy adviser to Hillary Clinton when she was running for president in 2016, they said.

Attorneys for James and Schmidt wrote that those facts weren't enough to keep the litigation in Washington, D.C., if they are kept on as defendants. The filing was signed by Andrew Amer, special litigation counsel with the New York Attorney General's Office.

"Plaintiff's newly-amended complaint does nothing to cure the fatal absence of any allegations that would support the Court's exercise of personal jurisdiction over the New York Defendants or a determination that this Court is a proper venue to hear a challenge to a New York statute permitting disclosure of New York state tax information," they wrote.

The case is before Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who was appointed to the bench by Trump and confirmed in May.

If Nichols approves the motion from James and Schmidt, that won't be the end of the litigation. Either James and Schmidt will be removed from the lawsuit altogether, leaving the other defendants still on the case, or it will be transferred to federal court in Manhattan.

James, in a statement Thursday, was critical of the amended complaint from Trump's attorneys, and said they looked forward to challenging it in court. Arguments on their motion are scheduled for Sept. 18.

"President Trump has spent his career hiding behind lawsuits, and this one is no different," James said. "The president's latest complaint is irrelevant, unreasonable, and factually inaccurate, which is why we believe this case deserves to be dismissed or otherwise moved to a New York court."

In the meantime, New York state officials have agreed to hold off on disclosing Trump's state tax returns to Congress until after a decision is made on their motion to dismiss or transfer the litigation. A request from Congress has not been made as of yet, at least not publicly.

The New York law, dubbed the TRUST Act, allows the chairpersons of three congressional committees to seek copies of Trump's state tax returns from the New York Department of Taxation and Finance. Those documents would not include any of the president's federal tax information.

The law, according to its text, would only allow select members of Congress to request copies of Trump's tax returns, if they're "related to, and in furtherance of, a legitimate task of the Congress."

Trump's attorneys have argued that no such task exists for Congress, because the body doesn't regulate New York's income taxes. They've also claimed the law violates the First Amendment, by creating a mechanism for Democrats to use Trump's tax filings for political purposes.

A response to the motion from James and Schmidt is due from Trump's attorneys in less than two weeks.

READ MORE:

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New York Is Barred, for Now, From Handing Over Trump's State Tax Returns