A New York judge ruled on Monday that the $175 million bond judgment against former President Donald Trump will remain intact despite New York Attorney General Letitia James’s efforts to challenge it.
James’s legal team argued that the court should nullify Trump’s reduced judgment of $175 million in his non-jury civil fraud trial. Her team raised concerns about the ability of Knight Specialty Insurance, the company behind the substantial bond, to actually pay the bond if necessary.
That’s a rather curious position since she had asked for a much larger $370 million in damages — it’s as if the entire point was to achieve a judgment that would be impossible for Donald Trump to pay. It’s as if the entire point of her case was to seize his assets under bogus pretenses and be a hero to the radical left.
As you know, in February, leftist Judge Arthur Engoron fined Trump $454 million (including interest) for allegedly fraudulently inflating the value of his assets while seeking a loan to build a project. Trump paid the loan back in full, and the bank he supposedly defrauded testified in his defense. Simply put, there was no crime or victim.
This isn’t exactly shocking because James campaigned on getting Trump, but if she’s questioning whether Knight Specialty Insurance could pay the extremely large judgment, then she likely knew that no bond issuer could possibly pay the $370 million she asked for and certainly not the $454 million Trump would be required to pay once interest was taken into account. Failure to post bond would not only prevent Trump from being able to appeal the absurd judgment, but it would also allow James to seize his assets.
Clearly, that was the endgame of the entire witch hunt.
Fox News has more.
The court decided the $175 million needs to be in cash — not in mutual funds or securities where the value can fluctuate. The court said Knight Insurance cannot trade or move the money, but said they will retain control of the account.
The court also ruled that Knight Insurance must provide a monthly financial statement to James showing the $175 million in cash and decided that the agreement cannot change without approval from the court.
The hearing Monday lasted for approximately an hour.
Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, said that the former president’s legal team was pleased with the ruling, calling the hearing “A complete waste of time and taxpayer money, once again.”
“The fact that we have two courts, not one criminal and civil being used against one man because they cannot beat him in the polls is a disgrace to the American judicial system,” Habba said Monday. “He should not have two teams of lawyers here today. He should not even be here today because he did nothing wrong. It is the epitome of a witch hunt.”
The decision in the James matter came as the former president sat in court across town for opening arguments in his criminal trial brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
“Ms. James wanted to argue and say that our cash somehow isn’t green enough,” Habba said, adding that they will appeal every ruling. “This is where your tax dollars are going to America, right here, witch hunt after witch hunt.”
Habba said Trump’s company “was worth more in that case than it is now.”
“And now what? We’re here because of something that happened when he was in the White House that wasn’t even wrong. It was not wrong. You hire lawyers to solve problems, they solve those problems, we pay them. That’s it,” she said. “This is a joke.”
It is, but it sure isn’t funny.