'Pressed up against a wall': Trump biographer says his bond problems are far from over

Former President Donald Trump caught a break on Monday when a New York appeals court drastically slashed the amount he must post in bond to appeal his more than $450 million civil fraud judgment for manipulating property values — as well as 10 additional days to produce that money.

But that doesn't mean this whole matter is settled, said longtime Trump biographer Tim O'Brien on MSNBC's "The ReidOut." On the contrary, it's just beginning.

"Does he have $175 million?" asked anchor Joy Reid, referencing the new amount the court ordered in bond.

'He can probably get it," said O'Brien. However, he added, "I think he is getting pressed up against the wall right now in terms of what he has on hand that's liquid that a surety company would feel comfortable bonding because of the collaterals there. They're not going to want to take little bitty pieces of a bunch of different real estate. They're going to want to go after his cash. What's perplexing to me is he already said last week that he already has $500 million, after a year ago saying he had $400 million, and then in between those two moments saying, actually, I don't have anything. And I think in that context — I think the appellate court didn't do a service towards a defendant being clear and honest with the court."

"Yeah," Reid concurred.

"But they also stayed keeping the boys out of the business and some of the other punitive things that Judge Engoron put in place," O'Brien added. "So it seems to me they felt Judge Engoron overreached. That's what gets ironed out in an appeals process. They've sort of gotten into the middle of this now and cut away at some of the foundations of both the ruling, and they've signaled what they think about the whole process. And that feels untoward. On the other hand, Donald Trump and people of means routinely get breaks in the judicial process that we average parking toll violators do not."

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