Ex-Prosecutor Stunned By Trump's New Legal Claim: 'Doesn't Make Any Sense At All'
Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said he highly doubted former President Donald Trump’s claim that he’s been unable to obtain a $464 million bond to appeal his civil fraud conviction.
It “just doesn’t make any sense at all,” Weissmann told MSNBC’s Alicia Menendez on Wednesday’s broadcast of “Deadline: White House.”
In a filing to the New York State Supreme Court, Trump called it “a practical impossibility” that he’ll get the money together and said 30 bond companies had turned him down.
But New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the civil case against Trump, fired back in a separate filing by suggesting Trump hadn’t offered appropriate evidence to back up his claims. James also argued the total required could be split up into smaller sums between multiple companies.
Weissmann agreed, adding Trump could also mortgage his assets.
Trump “could do all that” but the “real issue is that he may just be too leveraged,” said Weissmann.
“He says he’s worth so much, but all these properties are used to back loans from other institutions,” he added. “He may not have all that much money, either cash on hand or property that isn’t already pledged for other loans. So the reason he’s having trouble and the reason he might be having this meltdown is he can’t post the money, and he needs a lifeline through some third party who is going to be able to bail him out.”
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