The actual day to day reality of being broke (or, at least broker than he claims to be, much much broker in fact) is catching up with Donald Trump. It caught up with him today when his crack legal team asked the court of appeal if Trump could pretty please with sugar on it post a $100 million bond instead of the $454 million he owes. And why do they ask this, since their client is a multi-billionaire and all? You’ll have to ask them. All we know is that the the New York Times is reporting that Trump’s lawyers said it was “impossible.” What’s that you say? Don’t do the crime unless you can do the time — and/or pay the fine? Don’t tell us, tell Trumpty.
A single appellate court judge assigned to consider Mr. Trump’s request, Anil Singh, turned him down on Wednesday. Mr. Trump will try again next month with a panel of five appellate court judges, but for now, the former president is still on the hook to post a bond for the full amount of more than $450 million. And any company providing one would probably require him to pledge cash and other collateral that he does not yet have.
If Mr. Trump fails to secure the bond, the New York attorney general’s office, which brought the case accusing him of fraudulently inflating his net worth, can collect the $454 million from him. The attorney general, Letitia James, is expected to provide Mr. Trump a 30-day grace period, which will expire on March 25, at which point she could move swiftly to seize Mr. Trump’s bank accounts and perhaps take control of his New York properties.
You know where this is going, right? March 25? What date of significance comes before March 25? Why, how about March 8, which is the day that Ronna steps down and Lara steps up? At least that’s the plan. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Financial relief might also come from a separate deal: Mr. Trump’s stake in Trump Media & Technology Group, his social media company, could be worth up to $4 billion after a long-delayed merger is made final this year, though not in time for Ms. James’s March 25 deadline.
That will not happen. It won’t happen later this year, because Truth Social isn’t worth any kind of real money. It’s basically a Ponzi scheme. Bottom line, Trump can’t do anything with his stock for six months, and it’s not six months until March 25, as the Times points out. But hey, if Trump can convince somebody, somewhere, maybe the Koch Network or one of the Murdochs, or Howard or Warren Buffett, somebody like that, that he’s going to have $4 billion in the fall and he only needs a lousy $454 million today, maybe they’ll go for it. Be sure to keep an eye out for that story. I think you better have plenty of Visine on hand, you’re going to be looking in vain for a long time.
In its own filing, Ms. James’s office asked the appeals court to deny Mr. Trump’s request.
“There is no merit to defendants’ contention that a full bond or deposit is unnecessary because they are willing to post a partial undertaking of less than a quarter of the judgment amount,” the attorney general’s office wrote. “Defendants all but concede that Mr. Trump has insufficient liquid assets to satisfy the judgment.”
And it gets worse — for Trump. For you and me, it turns into pure liquid schadenfreude. Cherry and a lime slice, anyone?
Mr. Trump appears to be struggling to line up a bond in the defamation case as well. He has until early next month to do so, and his lawyers recently asked a judge to either grant him more time or reduce the size of the bond.
A bond, in simplest terms, is a document that a company provides to the court on a defendant’s behalf. The bond company promises the court to cover a judgment if a defendant, in this case Mr. Trump, loses an appeal and fails to pay.
In exchange, Mr. Trump would have to pay the bond company a premium fee, typically anywhere from 1 to 3 percent of the judgment. Mr. Trump would also have to pledge collateral to the bond company, offering it cash, stocks and bonds.
Although each deal is different, companies offering appeal bonds might be unwilling to take Mr. Trump’s property as collateral, especially if a building already has a mortgage, experts said.
That’s where he’s screwed. Everything is mortgaged and leveraged to the hilt. And the next time somebody asks you, “Where’s Melania,” just show them this article and say, “If the reporters know this, her lawyers damn sure do.”
Legal experts predicted that even if Mr. Trump loses before the five-judge appellate panel, he might still come up with a larger bond, noting that his lawyers did not characterize the $100 million bond as the only possible outcome.
“The $100 million bond resembles an opening real estate bid,” said Mark Zauderer, a partner at the law firm Dorf Nelson & Zauderer who is a veteran New York business litigator and has secured many appeal bonds. “But here, the negotiation will end, because it is the court that will determine the actual dollar amount of security, not Trump.”
The court has made its determination plain and given a number. Trump can’t meet that number, at least not by any of these deadlines. Now that takes us back to his only source of real money and that’s the RNC. Will they pony up Trump’s bond money?
Democratic strategist James Carville said people who are donating money to the Republican National Committee (RNC) and former President Trump are “begging to be stolen from,” as Trump attempts to make his daughter-in-law the committee’s co-chair.
“These people want to be stolen from,” Carville told MSNBC’s Jen Psaki. “The people that give Trump money or the RNC money are begging to be stolen from, and Trump is going to accommodate them. They’re very blunt and very upfront about what they’re doing.”
Trump’s desperate and he’s got his eyes set on the RNC coffers. This is where the next big skirmish is, right here. Meanwhile, Lincoln Project has revived this.
Oops, looks like Donald's broke. #TrumpIsBroke pic.twitter.com/teOJIrXhCk https://t.co/DSTdynWeyj
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) February 29, 2024
When my hypocritical ‘christian’ wife cheated on me in a no fault state where her attorney and judge were friends…I lost everything. When she violated our custody agreement and I finally brought her back into court, she received no punishment but her judge elevated my child support 3x what was in our divorce agreement. When I lost my job I was incarcerated THAT DAY, being led out to jail in handcuffs and LEGIRONS. That’s your court system in America. So please explain how does he remain free on hundreds of millions he owes? This country has been built on a legal system of lies and hypocrisy. That’s how. Shining light on a hill? Try a naked bulb hanging in a dirty truck stop bathroom is closer to the truth. He’s playing golf and the jails are full of poor people put there by rich criminals with law degrees. That’s the truth. Deal with it you peasants with cell phone bills.
The koch bros., rupert, and warren buffett did not become oligarchs because they throw money away on bad investments-and trump is a VERY bad investment. I cannot believe they would do something so fucking stupid. Now the wealthy evang con xtians? Yeah they’re that stupid and he’d get plenty from them but I don’t know if it’d be close to $500M worth of plenty. I do wonder about foreign leaders/governments stepping in but as you say, this will be public so the money trail will be easy to follow. And as many times as trump has stiffed people, declared bankruptcy, not paid back loans, etc. I don’t see any bank giving him squat. Foreign banks? Hard to say but I’m sure some of them might talk to Deutsche Bank-they have loans to trump coming due and are probably wondering if they are going to be paid.
Half a billion is a LOT of money. As it should be, those frauds were a lot of money.
Come on Donny, start selling things like everyone else has to do.
I seriously doubt that the RNC can even cover the Carroll judgement. They are going broke too. Even the Biden war chest is not as big as these fines.