Trump objected to having to pay the bond and lambasted New York Judge Arthur Engoron, who ruled against the former president in the case, in a Truth Social post.
“Judge Engoron actually wants me to put up Hundreds of Millions of Dollars for the Right to Appeal his ridiculous decision. In other words, he is trying to take my Appellate Rights away from me,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Tuesday morning. “Nobody has ever heard of anything like this before.”
“I would be forced to mortgage or sell Great Assets, perhaps at Fire Sale prices, and if and when I win the Appeal, they would be gone. Does that make sense? WITCH HUNT. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!” Trump added.
Trump’s tirade came one day after his legal team informed the court that he would not be able to come up with the full bond that’s due next week.
His legal team noted difficulties finding a Treasury Department-approved surety company that was willing to underwrite such a large bond and that many of the approved companies have policies against issuing bonds of more than $100 million.
They also explained why Trump cannot put up his company’s property as collateral for part of the bond.
“While it is my understanding that the Trump Organization is in a strong liquidity position, it does not have $1 billion in cash or cash equivalents,” the lawyers wrote, adding, “As a result, for a company such as The Trump Organization, which has most of its assets invested in real estate, obtaining a bond for $464 million is a practical impossibility.”
The Hill’s Sarah Fortinsky has more here.
