AS Donald Trump Justice Department veteran has Monday deadline to provide $454 million bail to appeal New York civil fraud case Andrea Weissmann said Sunday that the former president is unlikely to file for bankruptcy.
What happened: Discussing Trump’s options, Weissmann, a former FBI general counsel, highlighted the anomaly of the situation. “We have the leading candidate of the Republican Party … who has to shell out basically half a billion dollars, where they’re going to start taking his assets or he’s going to go to court to have a judge decide the date of his first criminal trial,” he said in an interview on MSNBC
The criminal case, initiated by the Manhattan district attorney Alvin Braggaccuses Trump of falsifying corporate records to disguise secret payments to adult film stars Stormy Daniels before the 2016 elections.
Weissmann also noted conflicting statements from Trump and his lawyers regarding the former president’s financial situation in the New York civil fraud case. “In the last week, we’ve seen his lawyers tell an appeals court, please give him relief because he’s broke. He basically can’t pay this money,” he said.
See also: The best real estate stocks of the moment
“At the same time, you have Donald Trump saying, oh, don’t worry. I have money.” Trump told Truth Social that he has about half a billion dollars in cash but that he would rather spend it on his campaign than pay the fine.
The Justice Department veteran said bankruptcy is the one thing Trump won’t do for “a whole host of reasons.” Politically it could be bad, he said, adding: “If you go bankrupt, a trustee is appointed and that means there is a completely open kimono on everything he has done and seen and on all his finances. . He loses complete control.
“There is a waiver of attorney-client privilege. I mean, this is kind of a bigger disaster, both legally and politically. So I just can’t see it as an option.”
Weissmann sees many efforts to shore up finances. “So I think we should expect some sort of ‘deus ex machina’ potentially from some third party coming in… I actually think he’s really going to have to find a way to put it all together, whether it’s putting it together with little pieces, but paying for everything.”
Potential ramifications: MSNBC political commentator Tim O’Brien the attorney general of New York initially declared it Letizia Giacomo could freeze Trump’s assets. “I think he will issue a sweeping seizure of all his assets. There has been a lot of speculation that he might eliminate some properties,” O’Brien said.
“I think his office – as they have prosecuted him on this issue – has a pretty good idea of what kind of debts he has against each property, and which properties offer the most liquidity to settle their judgment.”
O’Brien said he doesn’t expect the New York property to be included because a German family owns the land under 40 Wall Street, which is the Trump Building. “It has historically been gorged on debt, so the amount of actual equity that can be liquidated to resolve this judgment could be really incremental on each property,” he said.
“However, you know, for someone who values their independence and appreciates the idea of no one getting in the way, this is the financial equivalent of a proctology exam. And secondly, it really ties it together. She ties him up and publicly embarrasses him, regardless of how she finances his escape. It’s an existential moment for someone who has stumbled, time and time again, into financial difficulty.”
Weissmann pointed out that James’ office could absorb all incoming income streams, including rent royalties, interest and everything else owed to him. O’Brien agreed with him and said. “So they’re going to put their hands in every single pocket that he has.”
Read next: Trump’s granddaughter points out a key factor that could make it difficult for him to reach undecided voters: ‘Large portions of the electorate … increasingly tired of him’
Photo via Shutterstock