Donald Trump was supposed to have to post a $464 million bond by Monday or else the state of New York could begin collecting on the massive civil fraud judgment leveled against him earlier this year. An appeals court bailed him out, blocking collection of the judgment and giving the former president 10 days to post a drastically reduced $175 million bond.
The order is a huge win for Trump, whose assets were going to be subject to seizure if he couldn’t post nearly half-a-billion dollars by Monday. His lawyers said last week he wasn’t going to be able to come up with the money after 30 underwriters rejected him. The New York Times has reported that Trump is expected to be able to scrounge the new, reduced $175 million bond
Do these judges have to explain their decision? Is there an opinion published somewhere? I’d love to understand what context brought them to this conclusion, I’ve never heard of someone gaining leniency because they couldn’t afford the fine.
There’s an old saying in Tennessee, I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, “don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time”…
The published order is just that. It doesn’t explain the why or whatever just “We are reducing the bond amount and not removing the other limitations of the ruling”
“…because Project 2025”
It’s actually a pretty liberal court that made the ruling.
Neoliberal club. Fascist conservative club. It’s all the same fucking club, and you ain’t in it!
You know we’re fucked when I’m nostalgic for a time when Republicans were just dumb fucks trying to make their friends rich, rather than dumb fucks trying to destroy our democracy.
Isn’t the first one a prerequisite for the second one?
Works in the opposite order too.
I guess there’s a problem in that he needs the money in order to appeal.
Like everyone should have some right of appeal, and saying someone can’t appeal because they’re broke could be used to manipulate the justice system.
He still has to pay the whole amount if he loses the appeal.
The whole point of the bond is to prevent pointless appeals in the court (which I have to assume this will be) and, more importantly, serves as a guarantee the defendant will fulfill their obligations and pay at the end of an appeal failure, which … trump is absolutely a risk of not paying. And these judges have now effectively cast the guarantee aside.
Perhaps, but do you agree everyone should be able to appeal?
Sure, and frankly there is nothing preventing trump from appealing. However an appeal is not a green light to ignore or discard the lower court’s decision in the interim. Specifically outlined in the NY Court website
"Filing a Notice of Appeal does not stop or stay the winning side from taking steps to collect or enforce the judgment from the lower court. To put the collection on hold, you may have to ask the court for a stay. You may have to pay an amount of money equal to the judgment amount, called an undertaking, to the court while the appeal is being decided. "
And further to the point, I’d still like to understand what context he’s appealing under that was so compelling. This is a financial case, the facts and accounting figures supporting the judgement will presumably not change, leaving little room for a successful appeal.
Ultimately I’m of the opinion this is a frivolous appeal, and trump will not find the full amount owed at the end of it. By lowering the bond the appeals court has neutered the purpose of securing the bond in the first place, which can only to lead to more delays and difficulties collecting in the future.
It if were you or me or anyone else but trump, you know damn well there’d be ZERO leniency of any kind.
I don’t know what sort of incredible powers he has, but he definitely has. Maybe I’m coming around to see him not as a traitor or an idiot anymore, but sort of a superhero with powers I’m just beginning to appreciate. Maybe I will vote for him after all - he simply can’t be held down or held responsible, and that’s pretty amazing.
Trump is a man who prior to 2015, was a close personal friend of both of the Clintons.
As I understand it, Ivanka is still a close friend of Chelsea Clinton.
He might act like he’s not part of the elite power clique. But he’s absolutely part of the elite power clique.
The way this shit goes, I’m not going to be surprised if Trump will declare to be ineligible to be judged on the basis of being a sovereign citizen
A sovereign citizen couldnt run for President
Just like someone involved in an insurrection couldn’t, right?
I meant because they are trying to be sovereign from the US of their own accord, therefore adjacent to the US political system and not part of it, again, by their own choosing.
Oh, I’m sure he’s apt enough in mental gymnastics to come up with some
bullshitreason to run for president while also being absolutely independent from the jurisdictionThe sovereign citizens of which there are a surprisingly huge number (I never will know how they got licenses or jobs here since they claim they aren’t actually citizens of our country) would definitely support that.