Donald Trump, the self-described multibillionaire and “king of debt,” said he doesn’t have enough cash on hand to appeal a $US454 million ($692 million) civil fraud judgment against him. Embarrassing, of course. But his empty pockets also raise the possibility that his collection of urban real estate, golf courses and snake oil may be headed for a brutal financial squeeze.
Trump’s predicament is also the latest reminder that his financial challenges make him a national security threat — something that has been a reality ever since he was elected president in 2016. He’s always been willing to sell his name to the highest bidder. There’s no reason to believe that Trump, whose businesses collected millions of dollars from foreign governments and officials while he was president, won’t have a for-sale sign out now that he’s struggling with the suffocating weight of court judgments.
Donald Trump is a national security threat for the US.Credit: AP
Trump is being criminally prosecuted for allegedly misappropriating classified documents and stashing them at Mar-a-Lago, his home in Palm Beach, Florida. Without a trial and public disclosure of more evidence, Trump’s motivations for taking the documents are unknown, but it’s reasonable to wonder whether he pondered trying to sell them. Monetising the White House has been something of a family affair, after all. His son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has been busy trading financially on his proximity to the former president, for example.
All of this was troubling enough during and after Trump’s first stay in the Oval Office. He wasn’t under the kind of financial pressure he’s contending with now, however, and it makes all of his current financial manoeuvres even more questionable — and certainly much more threatening. He’s not just another wheeler-dealer caught out over his skis.
Did Trump flip-flop on his support for banning the social media platform TikTok from the US because Jeff Yass, a huge donor, has a large investment in the Chinese company that owns it? I don’t know. Did Trump meet with Elon Musk, the wealthy entrepreneur whose automotive, communication and space exploration assets have relied on close business and financial relationships with the federal government, because he needed to raise money quickly in the wake of the civil fraud judgment? I don’t know.
Still, these are good questions to get answers to and should make voters wonder about whose interests Trump will serve should he be re-elected in November.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who successfully prosecuted Trump for lying about the value of his assets to banks and other parties, can seize his assets on March 25 to satisfy the $US454 million judgment against him. Trump is appealing the ruling but still must place funds in escrow until the courts reach a final decision. That means he may have to put up at least $US500 million to satisfy both the judgment and accrued interest while he appeals.
In a court filing on Monday, Trump’s lawyers said that the judgment would require him to have cash reserves of $US1 billion and that he doesn’t have the money. Trump testified during a deposition last year that he had “substantially in excess of 400 million in cash,” a sum that was “going up very substantially every month.” That was either untrue or Trump, who has a long history of lying, wants to avoid using his own money or somehow burned through that magical pile of cash over the last year.
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