Facing a demand for a bond covering nearly half a billion dollars in penalties to hold off collections during appeals of the judgment against him, former President Donald Trump — the presumptive Republican nominee for president this year — is now claiming the task is outright “impossible.”
Potential consequences for failing to fulfill the demands are steep. Authorities could pursue a seizure of Trump’s assets, sweeping in his real estate holdings including high-profile properties in New York. The context is the fraud case against Trump from New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Trump claimed on Truth Social this Thursday that trial Judge Arthur Engoron “picked a number out of THIN AIR, $355,000,000, plus interest […] & wants me to bond it, which is not possible for bonding companies to do in such a high amount, before I can even Appeal. That is CRAZY! If I sold assets, and then won the Appeal, the assets would be forever gone. Also, putting up money before an Appeal is VERY EXPENSIVE. When I win the Appeal, all of that money is gone, and I would have done nothing wrong. The Crooked Judge, who has already been overturned 4 times on this case (a record!), fully understands this. He gave us a demand which he knows is impossible to do.”
Recent court filings from Trump’s side documented that some 30 bond companies rebuffed the ex-president as he searched for an agreement satisfying the requirements. Reportedly, Trump harbored ambitions of again partnering with the same bond company that helped him out in civil proceedings originating with claims against Trump by writer E. Jean Carroll, but they too declined the prospect. That same report from CNN said the Trump team was contemplating the possibilities of selling off assets to deal with the costs inherent to the bond arrangement, and Trump himself acknowledged in public remarks that he could be effectively forced to pursue such a path, meaning sell.
