Trump's 'desperation for cash' on full display after $100 million offer flops: biographer

According to investigative reporter and Donald Trump biographer David Cay Johnston, the former president's attempt to post an appeals bond that was not even one-fourth of the amount he needs to put up as he fights a $464 million judgment is more proof that he is not nearly as rich as he has claimed for years.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning Johnston noted in a column for MSNBC that Trump has a rich history of inflating his wealth and it has finally caught up with him after Judge Arthur Engoron dropped the hammer on him for committing financial fraud and writer E. Jean Carroll prevailed in two lawsuits against him to the tune of over $93 million.

According to the author of "The Making of Donald Trump," the door was opened by Judge Anil Singh on Wednesday for the former president to look for a loan from a New York financial institution, but, "It remains to be seen whether any licensed financial institution will lend Trump the money he needs. Not that desperation for cash is new for Trump."

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Recalling his 35 years observing Trump and his money machinations, he pointed out, "In 1990, he told me he was worth $3 billion. I said that I didn’t believe him because I, a newspaper reporter with eight children, paid my bills on time, while he hadn’t paid hundreds of suppliers in months.

"A few hours later, Trump told another reporter that he was worth more than $5 billion," Johnston wrote, before adding, "Soon New Jersey casino regulators revealed that Trump owed $295 million more than the value of his assets. As I reported at the time: 'You are probably worth more than Donald Trump.'"

As for the former president's true worth, Johnston wrote that Trump admitted in a 2007 deposition that his estimation of his worth is largely based on the "mood" he is in when asked, leading Johnston to dryly add, "One cannot pay a civil fraud award in moods."

Writing, "The fraud and Carroll cases together entail at least $537 million. And more cases are pending," he recalled that in 2015, as Trump was ramping up his plan to run for office, he repeatedly boasted he had a worth of $10 billion and then had a change of heart when compelled by the federal Office of Government Ethics to turn in his signed filing "which showed a net worth of about $1 billion."

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Pointing to Trump's nearly 1,800 page $100 million offer in an appeal that was mostly shot down by Judge Singh, with Johnston saying it was larded with "far-fetched claims published by pro-Trump websites," he wrote, "That will play well with those Trump supporters who read such documents, but not with appeals court judges. The permission for special treatment is unlikely to be granted, but it won’t be Trump’s last tactic to stall enforcement of judicial awards that may well expose the true level of his wealth."

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