Trump's bottom line may only have two commas instead of three.
Investigative reporter Jonathan Greenberg, who a few years back published a stunning exposé of how Donald Trump rise to real estate mogul, sees a critical moment: the steep sums the former president must shell out after losing two civil cases is forcing him to own up to not the billionaire tycoon he's boasted of being.
"I think he's far less wealthy than he has claimed," said Greenberg while appearing on CNN's "Out Front". "I think this is his Achilles heel.
"If you look at, you know,... he once on a Comedy Central roast of him and he said, 'Say whatever you want about my family' and he said 'Say whatever you want about peers — just don't make any jokes about me being worth less than I am!'"
The reason, Greenberg maintains is that Trump, who has tried to sell himself as a billionaire three times over is more of a millionaire a hundred times over.
"Because he really is worth a lot less than that. He's a lot less successful than he wants the world to be," he added. "And he and his properties don't produce nearly as much income, which is why there's this cash squeeze and he's trying to negotiate $100 million when he has to come up with $450 million."
On Friday, Trump managed to post the $91.6 million bond to cover the amount he owes to writer E. Jean Carroll in a her second defamation lawsuit defeat while he fights to appeal the jury’s verdict. (A jury had previously awarded Carroll $5 million to repair the damage Trump inflicted publicly claiming she invented the attack to drum up sales of a memoir.)
That still leaves him trying to scrounge for liquidity to come up with a $454 million civil fraud penalty in a case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James which he also lost by judgment.
Trump's $100 million bond offer to move ahead with appeal was swiftly rejected.
He's facing a March 25 deadline to either pay up or buy a bond to float the full amount.
Greenberg believes Trump won't give in until he is forced to.
"I think he's going to defy the court every step of the way," he said. "It's going to be 'Make me do it!' Like a child saying 'I'm not. No, I'm not going to do it! Make me do it! You can't make me do it!'
Trump's "Hail Mary" in Greenberg's opinion, is asking a Russian oligarch or a filthy rich friend for a loan. But Trump, he says, "doesn't have that many friends."
