Major Win for Trump Just Hours Before Bond Is Due

In the showdown involving former President Donald Trump, commonly referred to as “Deadline Don,” and those predicting his downfall, Trump emerged victorious this Monday.

Just hours before the deadline for his $454 million bond payment, an appellate court intervened, halting what was deemed a critical deadline set by New York State Attorney General Letitia James.

Back in February, James secured a civil fraud verdict against Trump, accusing him of inflating the value of his enterprises and assets. The penalty imposed on Trump required him to post a bond as evidence of his ability to cover the fine, pending his appeal of the decision.

James had designated this Monday as the deadline for Trump to furnish the $454 million bond. Had Trump not met the deadline, James could have exercised her authority to confiscate and liquidate Trump’s assets.

However, any actions towards seizing his assets were paused when a state appellate court decreed that Trump needed to only secure a bond of $175 million, as reported by Bloomberg.

This decision afforded him a 10-day window to arrange for the new bond amount.

Following this verdict, Trump labeled Judge Arthur Engoron, who oversaw his trial, a “disgrace” for having “done a terrible disservice” to the state of New York, according to Mediaite.

Trump’s legal team had proposed a bond of $100 million, citing the impracticality of acquiring the original sum demanded by James, especially after over 30 surety companies declined to support Trump, as per CNBC.

These firms demanded that Trump, with a fortune largely tied to real estate, demonstrate “cash reserves close to $1 billion,” his legal representatives stated.

Trump nor the Trump Organization had such liquidity available, they affirmed.

The judgment maintained the $175 million bond will stay in place at least until September, CNN noted.

Moreover, the appellate court on Monday suspended Engoron’s directive that prohibited Trump from holding any officer or director role at a New York-based company for three years, CNBC reported.

Additionally, an order that prevented Trump and the corporate defendants involved in the case from acquiring loans in New York for the next three years was deferred.

A restriction that Engoron had placed on Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, barring them from serving as officers or directors of New York companies for two years, was also temporarily lifted.

The appeals court dismissed Trump’s pleas to halt the extension of a financial oversight mechanism Engoron had ordered for monitoring the Trump Organization’s financial activities.

Earlier on Monday, the Republican presidential hopeful highlighted the case against him as indicative of the politicization of the judiciary.

“People must continue to speak of, and remember, that the Engoron number of $450,000,000 for doing absolutely NOTHING WRONG is a big part of the crime being perpetrated against me by Crooked Joe Biden and his political Hacks and Thugs,” Trump expressed on Truth Social.

He further criticized Engoron’s “fraudulent valuation of Mar-a-Lago for $18,000,000, when it is worth 50 to 100 times that amount,” as another facet of the “Election Interference HOAX.” “It’s all a giant and totally illegal Witch Hunt against Biden’s Political Opponent!” he declared.