Attorneys for former President Donald Trump said that their client could not come up with the nearly half a billion dollars needed for a bond to cover several different civil cases decided against him. The news came as the former president received a string of positive polling results in his race against President Joe Biden.
The former president was ordered to post a $464 million bond in relation to two defamation suits and a civil fraud case, which Trump’s attorneys appealed. Trump’s attorneys sought to have the payment requirement delayed, but this was rejected by a New York Appeals Court last month.
Trump and his sons Eric and Donald Jr. were originally barred from running their family business in the state as part of the fraud trial, but the same appeals judge allowed them to temporarily continue operations.
Trump’s attorneys called the bond payment a “practical impossibility under the circumstances presented.”
“These diligent efforts have included approaching about 30 surety companies through 4 separate brokers,” wrote his attorneys. “A bond requirement of this enormous magnitude – effectively requiring cash reserves approaching $1 billion … is unprecedented for a private company.”
The attorneys also argued that waiving the bond requirement would do no harm to New York Attorney General Tish James (D), who oversaw the fraud case. The former president’s legal team argued that there were “no actual victims and no award of restitution.”
Trump wrote on social media Monday that he built a “Magnificent Business, which helped rebuild New York City and State, with Amazing, Unparalleled, Historic Properties and tons of CASH, which Crooked Joe Biden and his Maniac Persecutors are trying to wrongfully and illegally take from me.”
I built a Magnificent Business, which helped rebuild New York City and State, with Amazing, Unparalleled, Historic Properties and tons of CASH, which Crooked Joe Biden and his Maniac Persecutors are trying to wrongfully and illegally take from me. A bond of the size set by the…
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) March 19, 2024
“A bond of the size set by the Democrat Club-controlled Judge, in Corrupt, Racist Letitia James’ unlawful Witch Hunt, is unConstitutional, un-American, unprecedented and practically impossible for ANY Company, including one as successful as mine,” wrote Trump. “The Bonding Companies have never heard of such a bond, of this size, before, nor do they have the ability to post such a bond, even if they wanted to…”
