George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley is slamming the "mob justice" style tactics used by New York Attorney General Letitia James to take former President Donald Trump to court and plans to seize his assets. He's also blasting the level of damages handed down by New York Judge Arthur Engoron in a "fraud" case that had no victims.
"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 Tuesday. "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.'"
President Trump has been ordered to pay more than $450 million dollars by March 25, 2024 or have his assets seized by the state. As Turley pointed out during the interview, Trump has been given no option to appeal the ruling before he has to make the payment. According to attorneys, Trump has been unable to obtain a bond due to a lack of $1 billion in cash reserves.
"Despite scouring the market, we have been unsuccessful in our effort," Trump attorney Gary Giulietti wrote in a lengthy court filing last week. "For the simple reason that obtaining an appeal bond for $464 million is a practical impossibility under the circumstances presented."
"Simply put, a bond of this size is rarely, if ever, seen,” he continued. “In the unusual circumstance that a bond of this size is issued, it is provided to the largest public companies in the world, not to individuals or privately held businesses.”