Donald Trump may not be the richest person in America. He’s not even among the top 25 richest Americans. When a New York judge set a bond for him that was by far the largest in history — $464 million — even the New York State Appeals Court thought that was excessive.
The Court of Appeals ruled Monday that Trump can post $175 million to cover a civil fraud judgment that is under appeal. It’s still one of the largest bonds ever set in American history. That is 38% of the initial penalty from the Manhattan court.
Trump’s attorneys had argued that liquidating assets to come up with the full $464 million was “a practical impossibility” by today’s deadline set by Judge Arthur Engoron of Manhattan.
Trump says that the judicial system is corrupt and is planning to take Trump Tower, one of his signature New York properties.
Meanwhile, the judicial system, which conservatives believe is partisan, is making it difficult for Trump to campaign for president. On Monday, while Trump looked on in the courtroom, New York Judge Juan Merchan announced that Trump’s first criminal trial is set for April 15 in Manhattan. The date puts the trial right in the middle of the summer campaign season and will probably guarantee a verdict before November’s general election. The criminal matter relates to alleged hush money that Trump gave to a porn actress before the 2016 election.
Also on Monday, Trump’s media company, TruthSocial, which has merged with the shell company Digital World Acquisition Corp., filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it will start trading on Tuesday on the NASDAQ stock market. The new company is called Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. and will trade under the DJT stock ticker.
Although Trump is not the official presidential nominee of the Republican Party for until the Republican National Convention, July 15-18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he is the presumptive nominee and has the backing of the RNC due to his winning of every primary and caucus to date, except for Washington, D.C. and Vermont. He has 1,686 delegates; he only needed 1,215 total to win the nomination officially.
Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee and now a dedicated leftist, said the only reason Trump’s historic bond was reduced is because the court treated him differently: “Yet again, @realDonaldTrump gets special treatment with his own private system of justice. The NY Appeals Court has decided to give Trump more time to pay less money by reducing his bond from $454M to $175 and giving him 10 days to get the money. This makes absolutely no sense.”
