Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Karreck]

No, it doesn't. It means that no financial institutions think he's worth lending money to, regardless of if he wins or loses. Because he won't pay it back for one reason or another and they're not actually "buying" anything from a guy famous for having all the loyalty of Judas.

This was the case when he first ran for POTUS as well, and why he frequently went abroad to find financing, most of the western institutions won't touch him with a 20 foot pole after being burned by him. My cousin does these kinds of big money loans for a "smaller" bank (non-consumer) and this was the case for years before he even decided to run for office as a Republican.

Exactly. At this point, with all the media coverage and scrutiny over Trump's finances and business deals, the guy has, what the pro wrestling business would call, Nuclear Heat in the world of Finance. No reputable institution is going to risk a dime over this known grifter, welcher, and loser named Donald Trump.

Donald Trump's rhetoric is growing increasingly violent, says one former lawmaker, and it might be due to the psychological impact the four trials are having on him.

Narcissists really fucking hate being made to look like the inadequate fools that they are.

[Breccia]

The fact that nobody wanted to take him up on that offer

It means that no financial institutions think he's worth lending money to.

See that's the thing: I think he has offers. I think he's lying. They're offers he doesn't want to take, but he will. I'll keep saying "he's lying about not having the money in time because he wants an extension" for...well, I guess a few more days. But I'm pretty sure he has offers he considers insulting, because they're fair. "We'll front you the $500 million, secured by Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower. And. Now sign this form in front of our many lawyers and many cameras." True, Trump could sell other things to repay the money, but not in a week with two court-appointed monitors looking over his shoulder.

4:59PM the day the bond is due, Trump will magically find the cash. He's just going to plead for mercy every single second until then.

[Huehuecoyotl]

See that's the thing: I think he has offers. I think he's lying. They're offers he doesn't want to take, but he will. I'll keep saying "he's lying about not having the money in time because he wants an extension" for...well, I guess a few more days. But I'm pretty sure he has offers he considers insulting, because they're fair. "We'll front you the $500 million, secured by Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower. And. Now sign this form in front of our many lawyers and many cameras." True, Trump could sell other things to repay the money, but not in a week with two court-appointed monitors looking over his shoulder.

4:59PM the day the bond is due, Trump will magically find the cash. He's just going to plead for mercy every single second until then.

There is one other possibility, and the reason why Trump is handling this second demand for cash worse than the first one; he literally just doesn't have the money. It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that he's so far underwater in his "empire" that the security for his £100m bond effectively wiped him out. It's all very well saying he can use Trump Tower and Mar a Lago as collateral, but that only works if he doesn't have other debts secured against them. And you can bet that anyone being asked to front $500m is going to want to make VERY sure that they have first call on those properties when Trump inevitably tries to renege on the deal.

We could be seeing that this "billionaire" might notionally own billions of dollars of property, but in reality the debts against those knocks the value of what he owns down to very little. Or possibly nothing at all. We may be days away from seeing that Trump is actually a pauper, and once the sharks taste blood he'll be left penniless.

Got to be honest, it's a thought that lifts the heart. It would be such an appropriate way for the Trump endgame to start, with him admitting to the world that he's actually flat broke. Well, not admitting it of course. Not personally. But the facts around him making it crystal clear. He'll carry on lying about it, we know that.

[Cthulhu 2020]

There is one other possibility, and the reason why Trump is handling this second demand for cash worse than the first one; he literally just doesn't have the money. It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that he's so far underwater in his "empire" that the security for his £100m bond effectively wiped him out. It's all very well saying he can use Trump Tower and Mar a Lago as collateral, but that only works if he doesn't have other debts secured against them. And you can bet that anyone being asked to front $500m is going to want to make VERY sure that they have first call on those properties when Trump inevitably tries to renege on the deal.

We could be seeing that this "billionaire" might notionally own billions of dollars of property, but in reality the debts against those knocks the value of what he owns down to very little. Or possibly nothing at all. We may be days away from seeing that Trump is actually a pauper, and once the sharks taste blood he'll be left penniless.

Got to be honest, it's a thought that lifts the heart. It would be such an appropriate way for the Trump endgame to start, with him admitting to the world that he's actually flat broke. Well, not admitting it of course. Not personally. But the facts around him making it crystal clear. He'll carry on lying about it, we know that.

Please god let this be true because it would be such cosmic karma for all the shit him and the MAGA cult have put us through. It'll also be nice to remind the resident MAGAs which horse they backed, and then we get to watch them deny that they ever supported Trump.

[Shadowferal]

Trump Golf Club Settlement Hangs Alina Habba Out to Dry

Trump and his top advisers are already a magnet for legal trouble. Habba, who already settled a discrimination lawsuit by her former legal secretary, is no exception. But now she faces the wrath of Alice Bianco, who was once a waitress at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, the real estate tycoon’s summertime abode.

Bianco feels betrayed by Habba, who was one of her Bedminster regulars until, her lawsuit says, Habba posed as a concerned friend giving legal advice about how to address alleged sexual harassment by a supervisor—only to abuse that relationship and “fraudulently induct” her to “quickly agree to unconscionable and illegal terms.”

The alleged ploy, rapidly paced over just two weeks, gave Habba leverage to arrange a hush money deal that would curry favor with the former president and earn her way into his inner circle.

Bianco is now preparing to sue the club all over again, this time for sexual harassment. But she’s also targeting Habba with a potential fraud lawsuit too, according to Bianco’s New Jersey lawyer, Nancy Erika Smith.

The four-page settlement, which Bianco signed on March 4, reads like a total win for the angered ex-employee. She gets to keep the measly $15,000 hush money payment she received in 2021 for keeping quiet about the way a supervisor repeatedly intimidated her and pressured her to sleep with him. Her attorney gets $82,500 for briefly litigating the case. Both sides can rip up the one-sided NDA. And the club doesn’t admit it “committed fraud to induce” her into a shady deal.

But then comes this line out of nowhere: “The parties agree that Alina Habba is not a party to this release.” That means Habba was specifically cut out of the deal, allowing Bianco to sue her directly for the exact same issues.

Bianco’s lawyer said the line was included to make sure Habba isn’t off the hook.

“My client is certainly considering suing her for fraud,” Smith said last week, noting that she is already in communication with Habba’s attorney.

[Draco-Onis]

See that's the thing: I think he has offers. I think he's lying. They're offers he doesn't want to take, but he will. I'll keep saying "he's lying about not having the money in time because he wants an extension" for...well, I guess a few more days. But I'm pretty sure he has offers he considers insulting, because they're fair. "We'll front you the $500 million, secured by Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower. And. Now sign this form in front of our many lawyers and many cameras." True, Trump could sell other things to repay the money, but not in a week with two court-appointed monitors looking over his shoulder.

4:59PM the day the bond is due, Trump will magically find the cash. He's just going to plead for mercy every single second until then.

It is currently the worst time to own the type of real estate Trump does, major real estate companies are selling property at 50-60% discounts. The name Trump being attached to it downgrades its value even further, any offer on the table Trump would consider insulting due his ego and how bad his sector is doing right now.

[Flarelaine]

I miss when the worst imaginable president happened back in DC Comics when Lex Luthor became POTUS. God, who knew even Luthor would be a better president?

Luthor is actually a spectacularly successful president in some arcs (notably Red Son). But any version of him is a better president than Trump: he is not any more morally corrupt than Teflon Don and he has the smarts.

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I still think Dubya was worse. James Buchanan too.

Judging by his term in office, I said all the clowns between Polk and Lincoln and also Harding were still worse. Since then, partly as his shenanigans come to light and partly as he is becoming openly more unhinged and more dictatorial every day, I'm not so sure.

[Dontrike]

Canon tries to help Trump yet again with a stupid ultimatum for Smith, either let the jury see national secrets or let Trump go. Sounds like this is just another delay tactic by her as this sounds easily appealed, but hopefully this is another step to get her removed.

The MAGA-friendly federal judge who keeps siding with Donald Trump in his Mar-a-Lago classified records case has forced prosecutors to make a stark choice: allow jurors to see a huge trove of national secrets or let him go.

U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon’s ultimatum Monday night came as a surprise twist in what could have been a simple order; one merely asking federal prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers for proposed jury instructions at the upcoming trial.

But as she has done repeatedly, Cannon used this otherwise innocuous legal step as yet another way to swing the case wildly in favor of the man who appointed her while he was president.

Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith must now choose whether to allow jurors at the upcoming criminal trial to peruse the many classified records found at the former president’s South Florida mansion or give jurors instructions that would effectively order them to acquit him.

Alternatively, Smith could appeal to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, where more experienced judges have already overturned Cannon and reined her in. But doing that will only further delay a trial that’s at least three months behind schedule, entirely by the judge’s own design. (She froze the investigation and tried to slow-roll document review until the appellate court forced her to stop.)

Trump and two lackeys were indicted last year for hoarding classified documents at the South Florida oceanside mansion, which doubles as a social club that’s become a mandatory stop for aspiring Republican politicians. Trump is fighting off 39 felony counts for keeping national defense information without authorization and trying to cover it up.

In recent weeks, Trump has tried to justify his inexplicable hiding of documents by asserting that everything FBI agents found—ranging from proposed war plans against Iran to what appears to be some kind of nuclear information—were actually his “personal” files, and therefore he could do with them whatever he pleased. He also claimed the country’s national security laws are “too vague” to be used against him anyway.

Last Thursday, Cannon declined to dismiss the case entirely on that vagueness argument and pushed aside that question for now, a move that was incorrectly read by some as a victory for Smith and his band of special federal prosecutors.

In retrospect just four days later, that decision was something of a boxing feint used to prep a hard punch with Monday’s ultimatum.

In coming up with how to explain the nation’s complex national security restrictions to jurors who will ultimately determine whether Trump is guilty, Cannon came up with a scheme that would make federal prosecutors the most uncomfortable possible.

Cannon’s evening order alerted federal prosecutors and Trump’s legal team that they “must engage with the following competing scenarios” when considering whether Trump can be charged with “unauthorized possession”: Either “a jury is permitted to examine” every record a former president swipes and claims as “personal” to determine whether it is, or jurors must be told that “a president has sole authority… to categorize records as personal or presidential during his/her presidency.”

The first option would require Smith to allow any of the randomly called potential jurors in this rural stretch of South Florida to suddenly have access to what prosecutors have described as extremely alarming national secrets. The second option would essentially force jurors to acquit the former president of wrongdoing, given that they’d be told he had unquestionable authority to assert personal ownership over any government document within his reach—a self-justifying rule outside of anyone’s review.

That second option is as stark as it is strange. In her two-page ruling, Cannon essentially proposed a new version of the law without the typical lengthy judicial order to back it up.

Option Two merely appears as a proposed jury instruction that would say: “A president has sole authority under the [Presidential Records Act] to categorize records as personal or presidential during his/her presidency. Neither a court nor a jury is permitted to make or review such a categorization decision.”

Cannon goes on to say that the Presidential Records Act is unclear about how to allow a president to make that kind of determination—even though, ironically, the 1978 law was passed in the wake of President Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal as a means to ensure that White House records are considered U.S. government property that should be overseen by responsible historians and librarians at the National Archives.

“Although there is no formal means in the PRA by which a president is to make that categorization, an outgoing president’s decision to exclude what he/she considers to be personal records from presidential records transmitted to the National Archives and Records Administration constitutes a president’s categorization of those records as personal under the PRA,” she wrote.

Cannon’s reading of that federal law would hand extensive authority to any president. But more importantly, it would give Trump exactly what he wants: the ability to give himself the final word.

Here's the full list of companies that told Trump to fuck off as he begged for half a billion dollars. Not even Nationwide is on Trump's side.

A Monday filing from former President Donald Trump's legal team revealed the full list of entities that denied requests to cover his sizable civil fraud trial bond.

New York Attorney General Letitia James brought a civil fraud lawsuit against Trump in 2022, accusing him—as well as his adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, and other officials with the Trump Organization—of a years-long scheme in which he inflated his net worth and the value of his assets in order to obtain more favorable business loans.

Despite Trump's claims of innocence, Judge Arthur Engoron found him liable for fraud last fall. Trump was ordered to pay a penalty of $355 million, which, with interest, came to a total of over $454 million. In order to appeal the decision, as he has stated his intention to do, Trump will be required to post an appeal bond of $464 million.

In a filing submitted to a mid-level New York appeals court on Monday, Trump's legal team admitted that he had been unable to secure the backing for the bond after asking numerous entities. The filing explained that, for an amount as high as $464 million, real estate, Trump's key asset type, could not be put forward as collateral.

In a footnote, the filing laid out a list of "some of" the sureties that had been contacted about the bond by Trump's brokers, but which ultimately declined to back it. The list was as follows: Applied Underwriters (SiriusPoint), Allianz, Amynta, Arch, Argo, Ascot, AXA XL, Berkley, Berkshire Hathaway, CAP Specialty, Chubb, Cincinnati, CNA Surety, DUAL/Axis, Everest Re, Frankenmuth, Hartford, Hudson, IAT (Harco), Intact, Liberty, Munich Re, Philadelphia Indemnity, MainStreet (NGM), Markel, Nationwide, RLI, Skyward (Great Midwest), Sompo, Swiss Re, Tokyo Marine HCC, Travelers, and Zurich.

Chubb was notably the surety that recently backed a $91.6 million bond for Trump to allow him to appeal another civil fraud verdict against him in the defamation suit from E. Jean Carroll.

Newsweek reached out to Trump's office via email on Monday for comment on the filing.

The filing described the process of obtaining the $464 million bond as a "practical impossibility" and asked the court to allow him to issue a stay on the financial portion of the ruling and allow him to pursue an appeal with only a $100 million bond, as he has floated in the past. The filing also requested permission to bring the argument before the state's highest appeals court, should the current one deny the request.

"Despite scouring the market," the filing read, "we have been unsuccessful in our effort to obtain a bond for the Judgment Amount for Defendants for the simple reason that obtaining an appeal bond for $464 million is a practical impossibility under the circumstances presented."

Reporting from the outlet Just Security found that Trump's current liquidity is believed to be lower than the civil fraud penalty against him. If the appeals court does not intervene on his behalf, the penalty will become collectible a week from Monday.

[Redwyrm]

Isn't it a national security risk to have someone with a lot of political power be in so much debt?

Just asking for a "friend"

Oh, and this

The Uniform Code of Military Justice requires that service members pay their debts. Failure to do so could result in bad-conduct discharge, forfeiture of pay and allowances, and even confinement for six months. Service members are held to the highest standards.

[bladeXcrasher]

Isn't it a national security risk to have someone with a lot of political power be in so much debt?

Just asking for a "friend"

Oh, and this

Why would we want to hold members of our highest offices to the same standards as a lowly E1?

/s

[Ivanstone]

Judging by his term in office, I said all the clowns between Polk and Lincoln and also Harding were still worse. Since then, partly as his shenanigans come to light and partly as he is becoming openly more unhinged and more dictatorial every day, I'm not so sure.

He could be a worse person than any of them. By a large margin even. It could also be that his incompetence kept him from executing his and his party's worst ideas.

Trump's presidency was very unproductive. The few things he did get done (tax cuts, SCOTUS picks) would've been rubber stamped by any GOP president. Dubya by comparison stole his first election, started two wars and finished his term with a massive recession.

[Gorsameth]

I still think Dubya was worse. James Buchanan too.

Did either of them attempt to overthrow the government and end democracy in the US?

Because if they didn't then I'm pretty sure Trump wins by default.

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Canon tries to help Trump yet again with a stupid ultimatum for Smith, either let the jury see national secrets or let Trump go. Sounds like this is just another delay tactic by her as this sounds easily appealed, but hopefully this is another step to get her removed.

Wow... I don't even know where to begin. No way your giving random citizens off the street the highest security clearance available in the US, because that is what we know is needed to actually see these documents.

I purpose an alternative, if the Judge wants the jury to see these files then the only way to do that is to have said jury be comprised of people who already have the required clearance levels. I'm pretty sure anyone with top levels of security clearance takes one look at the selection of what Trump took and shouts "ah hell no, he is going to jail".

And yes this Judge is asking to be removed and face disciplinary charges. The only reason she is still on the case is because I assume the DoJ doesn't want to take the extraordinary step of having a Judge removed for clear partisanship.

[Kaleredar]

Did either of them attempt to overthrow the government and end democracy in the US?

Because if they didn't then I'm pretty sure Trump wins by default.

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Wow... I don't even know where to begin. No way your giving random citizens off the street the highest security clearance available in the US, because that is what we know is needed to actually see these documents.

I purpose an alternative, if the Judge wants the jury to see these files then the only way to do that is to have said jury be comprised of people who already have the required clearance levels. I'm pretty sure anyone with top levels of security clearance takes one look at the selection of what Trump took and shouts "ah hell no, he is going to jail".

And yes this Judge is asking to be removed and face disciplinary charges. The only reason she is still on the case is because I assume the DoJ doesn't want to take the extraordinary step of having a Judge removed for clear partisanship.

The higher courts have slapped down Cannon’s inane rulings before. I see no reason to expect a different result now. I further suspect there’d be ample precedent for prosecuting people who have leaked or mishandled national secrets without revealing to the jury what said secrets were.

I’m guessing this is all part of the “stall indefinitely and hope the case gets tossed” delay tactic.

[Gorsameth]

The higher courts have slapped down Cannon’s inane rulings before. I see no reason to expect a different result now. I further suspect there’d be ample precedent for prosecuting people who have leaked or mishandled national secrets without revealing to the jury what said secrets were.

I’m guessing this is all part of the “stall indefinitely and hope the case gets tossed” delay tactic.

Sure, its 99.99% sure to get tossed. The problem is that trying to fight a case against a absolutely blatantly biased judge.

[Flarelaine]

Bianco feels betrayed by Habba, who was one of her Bedminster regulars until, her lawsuit says, Habba posed as a concerned friend giving legal advice about how to address alleged sexual harassment by a supervisor—only to abuse that relationship and “fraudulently induct” her to “quickly agree to unconscionable and illegal terms.”

Can she lose her license over this?

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He could be a worse person than any of them. By a large margin even. It could also be that his incompetence kept him from executing his and his party's worst ideas.

Oh, we know those for a fact.

[Odinfrost]

Sure, its 99.99% sure to get tossed. The problem is that trying to fight a case against a absolutely blatantly biased judge.

She is doing her best job to secure a Supreme Court seat in the event that Trump wins and another justice croaks.

[Rasulis]

It is currently the worst time to own the type of real estate Trump does, major real estate companies are selling property at 50-60% discounts. The name Trump being attached to it downgrades its value even further, any offer on the table Trump would consider insulting due his ego and how bad his sector is doing right now.

We have had to put up collateral to obtain construction bond for our projects in the past. So, I am somewhat familiar with the process. Here are some additional reasons by bonding companies don’t like to use real estate assets as collateral.

Cash, bond and stock have face values. Real estate requires appraisal. The appraisal for $500M worth of real estates costs (a lot of) money and takes time. Six days are not enough.

There is no cost associated with keeping and selling cash, stock and bond. There are all kind of costs associated with keeping real estate assets - property and business taxes, maintenance, lease and event management, etc. Cashing out takes time because you have to sell the properties. You also ended incurring more cost (commissions and more appraisals, etc.) To break even, the bond company would likely require $750M of real estate asset as collateral.

Also, in the case of Chubb, apparently many Chubb's investors were not happy with company underwriting the $92M bond. Greenberg ended up having to send a company-wide letter to explain himself. He was not going to stick his neck out for $500M bond.

Before saying "no," Chubb had been the closest to saying "yes" out of some 30 insurance carriers the former president approached, Trump's lawyers said in Monday's filing.

Chubb had been the only carrier willing to even consider letting Trump post real estate before ultimately declining to do so, the filing said.

From the filing, apparently Chubb wanted $1B in real estate collateral.

[Ivanstone]

Did either of them attempt to overthrow the government and end democracy in the US?

Because if they didn't then I'm pretty sure Trump wins by default.

Yes as a matter of fact they did.

Bush stole his first election. And then started installing more Federalist goons as judges. The Tea Party started under his watch as well.

Buchanan’s actions in part led to the civil war. Which is a bit worse than whatever Trump did.

Trump’s actions had little chance of succeeding. Trump is loudly very stupid but pick anything dumb he did and you’ll realize almost any other GOP POTUS would’ve done the same. You’ll also that at the state level there’s a GOP governor being even worse and displaying more competence while doing it.

[Edge-]

Canon tries to help Trump yet again with a stupid ultimatum for Smith, either let the jury see national secrets or let Trump go. Sounds like this is just another delay tactic by her as this sounds easily appealed, but hopefully this is another step to get her removed.

Fine, as long as it's only shown to members of the jury with the appropriate security cleareance.

Get a fucking special master to verify the contents and report on it or what the fuck ever. Jesus fucking christ how is Canon still a fucking judge this is pathetic rofl.

[Shadowferal]

Can she lose her license over this?

She has several bar complaints against her already. But I think it depends on how many strikes against her in a single state it takes before "enough is enough!" (At the moment I think it's NY, NJ, and FL)