Former President Donald Trump will appeal his $450 million disgorgement judgement in the New York civil fraud case, but biographer Tim O'Brien believes he has little chance of success and that he has no one to blame but himself.
"He's arrived in this place because he and his lawyers decided fairly early on to try to beat up the judge in this case," he said during an appearance on MSNBC Wednesday night. "And the judge came down with a very hard penalty; and Trump's in a corner."
To make things worse for Trump, he has already lost his first attempt at reducing the bond he has to pay in order to appeal, as he was denied by Judge Anil Singh.
O'Brien called this moment a "referendum on his wealth" on a self-proclaimed multi-billionaire who "when push comes to shove... is having trouble scratching up several hundred million dollars to make a court judgment."
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As far as being able to leverage some of his buildings in his real estate empire, O'Brien suspects that's "complex" because, for instance, two of his most prized skyscrapers in San Francisco and New York aren't his outright; Trump is a minority partner in those buildings.
"He's not going to be a free agent to sell out his stake without his partner allowing him to," he said. "Everybody in New York real estate or anyone who has a property now knows he is going to be selling under duress because he has to," said O'Brien. "And he is not going to get a good price for some of these properties."
