Donald Trump has taken aim at “crooked” judges and the “corrupt” Attorney General in a furious social media post as the deadline to pay a £359 million ($454 million) bond in his New York civil fraud case looms.
Taking to his Truth Social platform on Monday, Trump wrote: “These are rigged cases, all coordinated by the White House and DOJ for purposes of election interference.
“THE NUMBER ENGORON SET IS FRAUDULENT. It should be ZERO, I DID NOTHING WRONG! The D.A. Case, that I am going to today, should be dismissed. No crime. Our Country is CORRUPT!”
If Trump doesn’t come up with the money to pay the vast penalties in the civil fraud case, New York’s Attorney General Letitia James could begin the process of seizing his assets, and Trump raged at the prospect of parts of his prized real estate empire being taken from him.
In a follow-up post around 30 minutes later he continued: “Crooked Pols!!! There should be no FINE. Did nothing wrong! Why should I be forced to sell my “babies” because a CORRUPT NEW YORK JUDGE & A.G. SET A FAKE AND RIDICULOUS NUMBER.
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“‘TAKE HIS CASH SO THAT HE CAN’T USE IT TO DEFEAT HIS POLITICAL OPPONENT, CROOKED JOE BIDEN.’ ELECTION INTERFERENCE, ALL HEADED UP BY THE WHITE HOUSE – THIS INCLUDES FANI AND THE CORRUPT MANHATTAN D.A. BRAGG ADMITTED THERE WAS NO CRIME, WAS MORTIFIED BY WHAT MARK POMERANCE DID – AND HE SHOULD BE. WITCH HUNT!”
The state, through James’ office, sued Trump in 2022, alleging he had committed fraud for years by inflating his wealth on financial statements given to banks and insurance companies in connection with various business deals.
In February, after trial last more than two months, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay $355 million plus interest, saying: “The frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience.”
Trump denies any attempt to deceive banks or anyone else about his wealth. He has said the judge’s decision and the lawsuit itself were politically motivated attempts to keep him from reclaiming the White House in 2024.
The former president is also expected to appear at a crucial hearing in his hush-money case on Monday as a New York judge weighs when, or even whether, the former president will go on trial after a postponement due to a last-minute document dump.
The hearing is taking place instead of the long-planned start of jury selection in the first of his four criminal cases to go to trial. The trial has been put off until at least mid-April because of the recent delivery of tens of thousands of pages of records from a previous federal investigation.
Trump’s lawyers argue the delayed disclosures warrant dismissing the case or at least pushing it off three months. Prosecutors say there’s little new material in the trove and no reason for further delay.
New York Judge Juan M. Merchan has summoned both sides to court Monday to explain what happened, so he can evaluate whether to fault or penalize anyone and decide on the next steps.
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Trump is charged with falsifying business records. Manhattan prosecutors say he did it as part of an effort to protect his 2016 campaign by burying what Trump says were false stories of extramarital sex.
The case centers on allegations that Trump falsely logged $130,000 in payments as legal fees in his company’s books “to disguise his and others’ criminal conduct,” as Bragg’s deputies put it in a court document.
The money went to Trump’s then-personal attorney Michael Cohen, but prosecutors say it wasn’t for actual legal work. Rather, they say, Cohen was just recouping money he’d paid porn actress Stormy Daniels on Trump’s behalf so she wouldn’t publicize her claim of a sexual encounter with him years earlier.
Trump’s lawyers say the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses, not cover-up checks.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal charges, including campaign finance violations related to the Daniels payoff. He said Trump directed him to arrange it, and federal prosecutors indicated they believed him, but they never charged Trump with any crime related to the matter.
Cohen is now a key witness in Manhattan prosecutors’ case against Trump.
Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies any wrongdoing, saying the prosecution is politically driven bunk. The prosecutor overseeing the case, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, is a Democrat.
