There is a deadline for Donald Trump to provide more than $454 million in cash or bonds to postpone the application of his New York civil fraud penalty while it is being appealed.
Trump has also asked to delay another fast-approaching deadline to pay an $83.3 million penalty in E. Jean Carroll’s civil defamation case.
Trump might need to sell off a portion of his real estate holdings due to "exigent circumstances," according to his attorneys.
But legal experts said Trump may be able to use his properties as collateral to borrow what he needs from private lenders.
Donald Trump, a former US president and Republican presidential candidate, talks on February 20, 2024, during a Fox News town hall at the Greenville Convention Center in Greenville, South Carolina.
Donald Trump is racing to stave off a pair of civil penalties totaling nearly $540 million, without having to first put up the full amounts in cash or bonds.
According to the former president's attorneys, if he had to properly safeguard his judgments to prevent them from coming due, he would suffer "irreparable" harm and would even have to sell off properties that can't be repurchased soon.
Additionally, they claim that Trump is not able to just post a cash deposit in his civil business fraud case in New York, where he faces fines and interest totaling $454 million.
Last Monday, Trump's lawyer Chris Kise told a judge in an appeals court, "Nobody has five hundred million lying around, including Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump."
But legal experts say there’s another option that Trump’s lawyers haven’t mentioned in the court filings: Trump could offer up some of his properties as collateral to borrow what he needs — potentially from private equity sources.
According to Eric Talley, a law professor at Columbia University, there are "many private lenders out there in the debt markets and private equity markets that could lend" to Trump.
“In all cases, the loans would probably have to be secured with Trump properties, but if there is enough equity in some of them, he should be able to obtain secured credit, even on a compressed timeline,” Talley said
In this courtroom drama, on January 26, 2024, at Manhattan Federal Court in New York City, E. Jean Carroll, a former president of the United States, is shown watching as her attorney, Alina Habba, makes closing arguments in her second civil trial. Carroll had accused Trump of raping her decades prior.
The professor underscored the irony of Trump using his real estate to fight a lawsuit in which he was found liable for fraudulently inflating his property values for financial gain.
As to Talley, taking out a loan "would itself involve making declarations of the value of the property— and that is what got him into this mess to begin with."
But accurately appraising the value of Trump’s assets is not a serious obstacle. The organizations who have already given Trump money have done their own analysis of his finances and have not relied only on the allegations at issue in his financial statements, as Trump's attorneys pointed out during the fraud trial.
A more important factor could be whether Trump’s real estate assets are already mortgaged, said law professor John Coffee.
"He would need to find unencumbered real estate that isn't currently being used to secure a loan against which another bank has a lien," Coffee stated.
“Does he have that property? I can’t tell you
Biden, Harris have a 'big problem' on their hands with Trump rematch, warns Tulsi Gabbard
Nikki Haley drops out of race following Super Tuesday defeats
As a rematch between Biden and Trump is expected, Newsreedom contributor Tulsi Gabbard visited 'FOX & Friends' to explain why she thinks there is a 'clear option' in the 2024 presidential race.
Going into a rematch with former President Trump, Tulsi Gabbard, a previous Democratic presidential candidate, cautioned the Biden-Harris campaign they have a "big problem" on their hands.
On "FOX & Friends" on Wednesday, Gabbard made the case that voters have understood the Biden White House has been a "failure," noting the president's policies on crime and the border as two issues that are still on voters' minds as they prepare to cast their ballots.
"They've got a pretty big problem, because more and more Americans are recognizing what a failure the Biden-Harris administration's policies are for the American people," said the former Hawaii congresswoman, who left the Democratic Party in 2022.
TRUMP IMPACTS BIDEN’S ENEMY OF MAGA DISCOURSE : HE’S THE ADVERSARY OF THE STATE
"This is not something that's limited to Republicans, but they're independents and Democrats who are very frustrated with the most basic things… There are folks across the country who are… recognizing that this administration has stood for an open border policy that's made our communities less safe and causing incredible pressure on our country with millions of people illegally entering our country."
"They're recognizing, as we're seeing in some of the election results last night at the local and the state level, that the ‘defund the police’ policy of this administration has failed horrifically, recognizing that there are very real consequences to their lives, the safety of their kids, their kids' opportunity, and that is that has come about as a direct result of the failure of this administration," she said.
Haley decided to drop out of the 2024 race following Trump's sweep on Super Tuesday, ultimately setting the stage for President Biden to compete against former President Trump in November as he narrows in on clinching the GOP primary nomination.
Trump won a vast majority of the delegates during the Super Tuesday election. Still, after winning her first contest in the race for the Republican nomination in the Washington, D.C. primary over the weekend, Haley secured her only statewide victory by narrowly edging Trump in Vermont.
Haley withdrew from the campaign on Wednesday morning, despite her victory in Vermont, and she refrained from backing Trump during an address in Charleston, South Carolina.
Regardless, Gabbard argued there is a sharp contrast between Biden's record and Trump's, arguing the Biden administration is lying to voters to garner more support.
"I think the biggest issues on the minds of Americans today are revealing the contrast between what Biden has done to this country and… where we were as a country under President Trump," Gabbard said.
"I think a lot of the exit polls show that the foremost issues on people's minds are the economy and the border… and on both of those issues, there is such a huge contrast between the record of President Trump and the record of President Biden."
"I hope [what] people are recognizing is how offensive the Biden-Harris administration's approachis to the American people, where they can advocate for these policies for the last three-plus years, and now all of a sudden, policies that have made our country worse, not better, made our way of life worse, not better, and now all of a sudden, flip the switch and think we are so stupid to believe the lies that they're telling us just to get our votes," she continued.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., echoed Gabbard's sentiment, warning there is "no resetting [Biden's] campaign" as the president gears up for another battle with Trump.
"If you look at the border crisis, on the economy, on the handling of crime, on the handling of national security, President Trump has a double-digit lead, in some cases, over 30 points on each of those main issues," she said Wednesday during "FOX & Friends."
This is the platform that Joe Biden will take the stage. There is no going back for the State of the Union in his campaign. Regarding the crucial issues that matter to voters, there is no going back from the disastrous administration he has headed."
She also noted Trump is in the "strongest position ever" headed into Election Day. "The voters have made the decision even before Super Tuesday that President Trump is their strongest candidate to defeat Joe Biden this November," she said.
Will Donald Trump liquidate a property to satisfy his $355 million judgment for deception?
Closed for predictions after May 31, 2024 05:30PM (in 3 months)
"So we need to come together and unite, and Republican voters have done that loudly and clearly.
"We are very focused on making sure that we support President Trump and his campaign and defeat Joe Biden this November to save our country."
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