Trump has '464 million reasons' to sell out to a 'scary' foreign patron: legal expert

Donald Trump is moving closer to having his properties seized if he's unable to pay a $464 million fraud judgment or secure the same amount for a bond required to appeal, according to a legal expert.

The former president says he approached 30 insurers but found none of them willing to post the bond, and some of his friendly right-wing media commentators have noticed that no wealthy Republicans have stepped forward to offer their assistance either, and MSNBC legal analyst Andrew Weissmann told "Morning Joe" that seems to be a sign that Trump's business empire was more "fragile" than it appears.

"There's no restriction on getting a friend, it can be an American, it can be somebody overseas, anybody can come in, but so far that hasn't happened," Weissmann said. "I think one thing that we have learned is, Donald Trump simply, in spite of what he has been telling the public, does not have the money. His story is that he does not have liquid assets, he doesn't have cash to put up to satisfy the bond. The bond, by the way, is typical – that's a standard thing, and his claim that, well, he can't do that because all of his real assets are in real estate, which is illiquid, that doesn't really make any sense."

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"If he really had real estate with equity in it, he would do what many, many homeowners do, which is get a mortgage and he can use that money to put up the bond," Weissmann added. "So he also clearly does not have equity in either cash or in the real estate to put up the amount of money. I think on Monday, absent the court lowering the amount or somehow staying the bond requirement, we're going to be seeing Tish James seizing assets and she will find out everything."

Co-host Mika Brzezinski quickly jumped in and interjected.

"I don't believe it," she said.

MSNBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos said the process that Weissmann described was far more complicated and onerous than it might seem.

"This is why ordinarily plaintiffs' attorneys and private firms aren't really big fans of being able to seize assets after a judgment like this," Cevallos said. "They would rather go after a company or an individual who is covered by an insurance policy that usually has liquid available to pay a judgment. Most plaintiffs' attorneys are not that interested in the trouble of seizing assets – it's not fun, it's not easy. I imagine Donald Trump has protected himself with layers and layers of protection that we haven't seen yet, that Letitia James may not know about."

"It's not going to be an easy process," Cevallos added. "It won't be as simple as freezing assets or walking in with a giant padlock in front of one of the Trump buildings and getting that money within a week. It's going to take some time. Most plaintiffs' attorneys are not that interested in executing judgment. If you're Letitia James and you're a government agency, then those are the kinds of things you're not worried about."

Brzezinski asked whether a foreign entity might step in and bail him out, and Weissmann agreed that was a worrying concern for a major party's presumed presidential nominee.

"Well, that is everyone's national security concern, is that there will be somebody just hypothetically like an Elon Musk here in the United States," Weissmann said, "or sort of in a maybe equally or more scary way somebody like [Mohammed bin Salman] or a Russian oligarch who will think this is a very good investment because, if he becomes president, there will be 464 million reasons why Donald Trump will favor that person in terms of his policies."

"His best exit strategy so that there isn't the seizure of assets and also the disclosure of just how fragile his empire is, to keep that all under wraps," Weissmann added. "His best strategy is to find that third party, even if it is a foreigner who will lend him the money."

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