Trump News

The very fact that New York Attorney General Letitia James is plunging ahead with paperwork to seize assets belonging to Donald Trump to satisfy a nearly half-billion dollar judgment is 'derailing" the former president's delay strategy and is causing no small amount of alarm among insiders.

According to a report from CNN, the former president has been remarkably successful at using the courts to forestall being brought to justice but the financial fraud ruling by Judge Arthur Engoron is not playing out like his multitude of other legal problems.

Noting the avalanche of Trump Truth Social posts on Friday about his worth and the money he needs for his appeal bond due by Monday, CNN is reporting they reveal a "... reality that has pushed Trump’s company and personal finances to the brink with just two days remaining to land a solution."

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One problem, the report notes, is that even if the former president has the $400 million he boasted about in an early morning Friday posting, it doesn't come near enough to the total he needs.

"He consistently pegged the number during legal proceedings at $400 million and, barring any recent and unreported cash infusion, a person familiar with his finances confirmed that remains roughly where his cash holdings stand," CNN is reporting before adding, "The $464 million decision levied in the verdict, and the bond Trump is scrambling to secure to forestall potential seizure of his properties, would require cash or cash equivalent of roughly $557 million based on industry practice. And at least some of the money Trump does have is tied up in loan agreements that include terms requiring him to have tens of millions of dollars in cash on hand."

According to a GOP lawmaker close to the Trump camp, until now the former president has seemed invulnerable but AG James' plan to have liens in place if the bond is not posted has changed the game.

“I think the whole thing is b------t,” they explained. “But it had gotten to the point where it seemed like nothing will ever stick to him, so this has been different.”

You can read more here.

Calling her "Rep. Mayhem," the opinion page editors of the conservative Wall Street Journal urged House Speaker Michael Johnson (R-LA) to proceed with running the country's business as he sees fit and ignore Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene's latest tantrum.

In a scorching editorial, the editors pointed to Taylor Gtreene's threat to oust Johnson if he doesn't toe the line when it comes to what she wants to do and stated it is time for the putative GOP leader to stand up to her and similar "vandals" in the Republican Party caucus.

According to the editors, Johnson did the rational thing by forcing through a budget bill to keep the government funded and the Georgia Republican is only interested in creating "chaos" and drawing attention to herself.

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"Politics isn’t the art of the impossible, but Ms. Greene and her crew of vandals prefer to scream and throw soup at the walls, like those climate-change protesters who think their ludicrous gestures are accomplishing something," they wrote. "They have no strategy for achieving the conservative victories they claim to want, beyond shutting down the government and shouting for the cameras that everyone else is a sellout."

Pointing to the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) by a group of similarly disaffected conservatives, the editors suggested Taylor Greene may be able to force a vote only to find out the hard way that her GOP colleagues don't want to suffer through that again — particularly in a pivotal election year.

"After the weeks of tumult last fall following Mr. McCarthy’s removal, even Ms. Greene’s putative allies might be skeptical. Is this the vision for GOP governance that House Republicans want to offer in an election year?", they asked before bluntly stating, "If Mr. Johnson isn’t conservative enough to succeed as Speaker, who would be? Call her bluff."

You can read the entire editorial here.

Any hope that Donald Trump has that a judge in the New York State Appellate Division will give him more time to come up with the nearly half-billion dollar— or a reduced amount — he needs for his appeals bond related to financial fraud due on Monday should be put to rest.

According to a report from the Washington Post, with New York Attorney General Letitia James already poised to start grabbing Trump properties and raid his bank accounts if he misses his deadline, the former president is running out of time and the court's normal scheduling does not favor his immediate needs.

As the Post is reporting, "The appeals court generally issues rulings on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so there is very little chance it will act by Monday on Trump’s request to waive the bond requirement, adding, "If it doesn’t, and if Trump doesn’t post a bond by then, legal experts say there is nothing preventing James from calling on the New York City sheriffs or on city marshals to begin seizing his assets."

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The report goes on to state that Trump's on-hand cash will likely be the first asset to be seized before the long arduous process of taking his properties and then auctioning them off is set in motion.

According to one expert, AG James will likely hold off on grabbing properties, waiting for the appeals court to weigh in.

As Nikos Passas of Northeastern University put it, "She doesn’t want to be accused of being overly aggressive and unfair.”

Stewart Sterk, a professor at Cardozo School of Law, added: "Once she has that judgment lien, what she can do is foreclose on that judgment lien and essentially mandate a sale of the properties to satisfy the judgment.”

You can read more here.