Once more, Donald Trump is making it abundantly clear that he’s unfazed by financial concerns, particularly regarding the substantial $454 million judgment resulting from his New York bank fraud trial—a sum that the self-proclaimed billionaire seems unable to readily come up with.
“These baseless innuendos are pure bullshit,” asserted Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung in response to a CNN report suggesting the GOP presidential nominee was hastily looking to offload his New York properties.
“President Trump has filed a motion to stay the unjust, unconstitutional, un-American judgment from New York Judge Arthur Engoron in a political Witch Hunt brought by a corrupt Attorney General,” Cheung continued. “A bond of this size would be an abuse of the law, contradict bedrock principals [sic] of our Republic, and fundamentally undermine the rule of law in New York.”
Donald Trump (Credits: Getty Images)
However, Cheung’s claims that Trump isn’t attempting to divest his properties seem at odds with Trump’s own statements and apparent concerns. In the early hours of Tuesday, the former president took to the online sphere, expressing his frustration at the prospect of having to sell his assets at “Fire Sale prices” to meet the disgorgement.
“I would be forced to mortgage or sell Great Assets, perhaps at Fire Sale prices, and if and when I win the Appeal, they would be gone. Does that make sense? WITCH HUNT. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!” Trump vented on TruthSocial.
Thus far, Trump has made unsuccessful attempts to halt the swiftly accruing interest, offering the court a $100 million bond in lieu of the full amount. He has also reached out to numerous brokers and dozens of suretors for assistance in obtaining a bond.
However, Trump’s legal team disclosed in a filing that suretors declined to accept Trump’s real estate as collateral, insisting instead on a cash sum of $1 billion—an amount Trump and his businesses purportedly lack. This turn of events is raising eyebrows, particularly given Trump’s deposition last year, during which he claimed to possess “substantially in excess of 400 million in cash” that was “going up very substantially every month.”
Earlier this month, Trump boasted to Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade about his financial abundance, asserting that he has “a lot of money” and doesn’t “worry about money.” Nonetheless, Trump finds himself rapidly approaching a deadline; he has until Monday to muster nearly half a billion dollars before he can legally appeal the case.
