After getting hit with a massive $464 million judgment in the civil fraud cause brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, Donald Trump has struggled to pay the bond, raising significant questions about his actual wealth. However, for a brief moment it appeared that Trump had somehow found a way to cover the judgment, but that all went out the window on Monday morning as his lawyers admitted in court filings that no underwriters will back the former president’s bond.
Via CNN:
“The amount of the judgment, with interest, exceeds $464 million, and very few bonding companies will consider a bond of anything approaching that magnitude,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. (Trump himself was fined $454 million; the $464 million includes the disgorgement for his adult sons Don Jr. and Eric.)
An insurance broker, Gary Giuletti, who testified for Trump during the civil fraud trial, signed an affidavit stating that securing a bond in the full amount “is a practical impossibility.”
As news hit social media that Trump can’t cover the bond despite being a supposed billionaire, Democratic Congressman Sean Casten didn’t waste time flagging the former president as a “massive national security risk.”
“The presumptive @GOP nominee for President is desperate for $464M (and counting) which he cannot personally access,” Casten tweeted. “That fact alone makes him a massive national security risk; any foreign adversary seeking to buy a President knows the price.”
“We already lack clarity on what security was provided for the $91M bond he posted in response to the E. Jean Carroll case,” Casten continued. “That is already a plenty BFD. A guy who wants your trust and wants to be President should disclose his liabilities.”
We already lack clarity on what security was provided for the $91M bond he posted in response to the E. Jean Carroll case. That is already a plenty BFD. A guy who wants your trust and wants to be President should disclose his liabilities. https://t.co/emMXfhgPY6
— Sean Casten (@SeanCasten) March 18, 2024
Trump’s inability to cover the bond arrives on the heel of his former fixer Michael Cohen predicting that Trump is in dire financial trouble because all of his properties are “leveraged.”
“I think we are going to see him lose everything, he’s already lost his mind and most of his money,” Cohen said via Newsweek. “Millions and millions in legal fees alone. I mean his properties are all leveraged and just moments after the predator in chief put up the bond to appeal the E. Jean Carroll defamation judgment.”
(Via CNN, Sean Casten on Twitter)