Appearing as a guest on MSNBC's "The Weekend," host of her own MSNBC show Katie Phang explained that the $83.3 million judgment Donald Trump was slapped with by the jurors in the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial likely not only plunged his finances into turmoil but may make it near impossible to for him to get outside help.
Speaking with the hosts, Phang, a former prosecutor, explained the hoops Trump will have to jump through to come up with the entire amount to go into a trust if he appeals the devastating verdict, which he has indicated he will do, or to convince a bonding company to help him out.
'He could use real estate properties," she suggested. "But the problem for Donald Trump's leverage is he is overleveraging himself, and that is what got him into trouble in the first place with the New York Attorney General's case for the civil fraud."
"Well, there is that saying the numbers don't lie. They don't, they are what they are" Phang later added. "That's kind of what got Donald Trump into trouble with the New York Attorney General's office. But to your question, Donald Trump has said that he has $400 million in liquid cash to be able to access — that does not include the totality of his assets which is a real estate portfolio other investments that he has."
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"You know it is the cumulative effect of whether or not it is enough to make a dent in his net worth. I think that your net worth, especially for someone like Donald Trump, isn't just cash on hand. Your net worth also includes whether people think that you're a risk, a risk worth taking. So, putting aside what a success is with the New York AG's case and whether he's able to survive what they called a corporate death penalty to be able to do business in the state of New York, is Donald Trump a worthwhile risk if you are a person in the world of finance and business?"
"Is the kind of person that you think is going to be worth taking a gamble on to loan money to; to be able to invest with to continue to maybe make a profit with," she added. "We have seen him file bankruptcies. We have seen him fail miserably as a businessman. So despite his attestations or his protestations that he is worth a lot of money, that his brand is valuable, and then he's quote 'the richest man in the world' because of that brand, the reality comes crashing down for him because it is not."
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"If you cannot get somebody to loan you in terms of being a bond surety like $5 million, who is going to pony at this now for him?" she added. "Somebody will, but he's going to have to put collateral up and he runs the risk of losing that."
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