UPDATE: Monday morning, an appeals court slashed Trump's fine in half and extended the deadline for payment.
Judge Slashes Trump's Bond Amount, Extends Deadline
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 25, 2024
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***Original post***
It's Monday March 25, which means the deadline for former President Donald Trump to pay more than $450 million to the state of New York or face asset seizure has arrived.
Trump was ordered to pay the amount after a lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James, who proved no victims or illegal behavior inside the courtroom of zealous Democratic Judge Arthur Engoron. James proved no fraud and there were zero victims in the case.
Judge Engoron handed down the cost of the payment one month ago and James says she is prepared to seize a number of Trump's assets if he doesn't come up with the cash.
Trump Organization Executive Vice President Eric Trump gave an update Sunday about the bond amount being "impossible" to obtain, despite decades of the business not only repaying loans on time, but making banks money.
"A half a billion dollar bond is simply not commercially available. The 30 largest bonding companies in the United States have never seen a bond close to this size for anyone, let alone a private company. Letitia James is hellbent on a political vendetta against my father with zero regard for the lives of thousands of hard-working New Yorkers, who make their living in our buildings," Eric Trump posted on X. "The entire world is watching this unfold. The notion of seizing properties owned by the Former President of the United States (and the front runner for President in 2024) - properties belonging to a company that has NEVER missed a payment, never been in default, never breached a covenant, built American skylines, has repeatedly made banks hundreds of millions of dollars while employing THOUSANDS of hard working New Yorkers - is shattering the trust of not just of New York (which is fragile at best) but in the entire legal system in the United States."
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Trump is being forced to pay the bond before given the opportunity to appeal Engoron's ruling, a requirement many legal scholars have called unconstitutional. Last week George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley called the fine "mob justice."
"This creates a perverse incentive for judges like this one who comes up with this astronomical, in my view, ridiculous level of damages," Turley said during an interview with Fox and Friends. "Basically his position is in order to get any other judge to [look at the case] you've got to come up with basically a half a billion dollars just to appeal."
"Many people look at this as a type of almost mob justice. The attorney general ran on bagging Trump. She's now pledging to seize his property just because he can't come up with this bond. At some point the courts have got to step in and say, 'Look, this is simply enough. You're requiring this astronomical bond just for this guy to get any other judge to look at this decision.'"
The deadline for payment is 4 p.m. et.
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