As he gets closer to seeing a New York judge impose a fine that could be as large as $370 million, failed former president Donald Trump is also on the verge of having a make a choice that would be the ultimate humiliation for him.
That’s what New York Times investigative reporter Susanne Craig says she believes she has Trump so worried: He’s going to be forced to sell off his properties in order to pay the penalty for decades of lying on financial disclosure forms.
Appearing on MSNBC, Craig noted:
“The argument has been that he submitted these statements of financial condition in order to get better rates at the banks. And they went through some of the spending that Donald Trump has been doing recently. There have been a lot of renovations at three properties. He put $250 million into Doral and the old post office; he spent $225 million on renovations.”
In other words, Trump and the Trump Organization are facing a major cash crunch, Craig continued.
“Then secondly, I was listening to it because he is facing coming into a judgment with this judge of penalties going up to $370 million. We’re looking at the hundreds of millions of dollars range. The attorney general painted the picture that the cash position is not good. It also supports the analysis that we have done at The New York Times that he doesn’t have a lot of cash on hand to meet a penalty of that size.”
Trump’s only option will be to sell his properties in order to cover the massive court judgement, which led former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann to explain that the process could take place sooner rather than later, even if the ex-president decides to file an appeal.
“Very often the courts of appeals will require a cash bond. And so that issue of can he wait until the appeal is over to start paying this, that may not be an option.”