Donald Trump has been telling the New York courts that he doesn’t have the liquidity to pay a $464 million appeal bond he must post following a massive civil fraud penalty leveled against him by the state last month. On Friday, the former president appeared to show his hand, claiming on social media that he actually does have the cash, and that he was planning on using it his presidential campaign.
“THROUGH HARD WORK, TALENT, AND LUCK, I CURRENTLY HAVE ALMOST FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS IN CASH, A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF WHICH I INTENDED TO USE IN MY CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, accusing New York Judge Arthur Engoron and state Attorney General Letitia James of conspiring to empty his campaign coffers through the appeal process.
“WANTED TO TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME, AND THAT’S WHERE AND WHY [Engoron] CAME UP WITH THE SHOCKING NUMBER WHICH, COUPLED WITH HIS CRAZY INTEREST DEMAND, IS APPROXIMATELY $454,000,000. I DID NOTHING WRONG EXCEPT WIN AN ELECTION IN 2016 THAT I WASN’T EXPECTED TO WIN, DID EVEN BETTER IN 2020, AND NOW LEAD, BY A LOT, IN 2024.THIS IS COMMUNISM IN AMERICA!” Trump raged.
Last month, Trump was ordered to pay $355 million in damages to the state of New York and barred “from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York for a period of three years,” after being found liable for defrauding investors and the state through years-long manipulations of the value of his real estate holdings. The court has requested a $464 million bond — about 130 percent of the amount owed.
For weeks now, Trump’s attorneys have been claiming that the former president does not have the money on hand, and would likely need to sell off assets in order to gather the funds. “Despite scouring the market, we have been unsuccessful in our effort to obtain a bond for the Judgment Amount,” Trump’s lawyers wrote Monday, adding that the former president had been rejected by 30 underwriters.
Last month, his attorneys told the court that “in the absence of a stay on the terms herein outlined, properties would likely need to be sold to raise capital under exigent circumstances, and there would be no way to recover any property sold following a successful appeal and no means to recover the resulting financial losses.”
Trump himself wrote on Truth Social earlier this week that in order to come up with the money he 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.”
The former president has also been using the threat of the state seizing his properties in order to satisfy his debt to fundraise for his campaign. On Wednesday, his campaign sent out a text blast calling on his fans to help him keep the state of New York’s “FILTHY HANDS OFF TRUMP TOWER!”
James, who has already made clear the state would not hesitate to strip Trump of his assets, may already be laying the groundwork to do just that. On Thursday, the state registered Trump’s judgment in Westchester County, the seat of the Westchester Trump National Golf Club, and near three other golf courses he has in New York and New Jersey.
The former president’s affinity for posting his every thought online will — once again — raise questions in New York about how honest he’s being about his finances.
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