Republican megadonors rally to save Trump – Reuters — RT World News
The former US president's campaign denied that he needed help from wealthy allies to issue half a billion dollars in bonds
A number of billionaires sympathetic to Donald Trump have pitched in to help the former US president raise bonds worth about $500 million as he appeals a potentially devastating ruling against his companies, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
The bonds were supposed to cover the former president as he fights a $454 million penalty imposed by New York Judge Arthur Engoron last month. Although Trump is appealing the ruling, he would have had to raise that amount in collateral plus about an additional 20% to post the bonds, or risk the seizure of his bank accounts and prime properties in Manhattan.
Anonymous sources told Reuters that hedge fund founder John Paulson and energy tycoon Harold Hamm helped raise money to cover the bonds. Another unnamed donor has offered $10 million for the effort, a source said. Neither Paulson nor Hamm responded to requests for comment.
It is unclear how much money either billionaire has pledged, although one source said the full amount had been raised by the end of the weekend.
However, the full amount was not needed by Monday, as an appeals court ruled that Trump could post a smaller $175 million bond while appealing Engoron's ruling. Speaking to reporters in New York that day, the former president said he would do so “Send either $175 million in cash or bonds or securities or whatever is necessary, very quickly.”
Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Cheung denied there was anything 'Coordinated effort' To raise the bonds, he told Reuters that the former president had done so “More than enough cash” To pay the judgment in full.
Engoron found Trump guilty of over-inflating the value of his properties in order to defraud lenders into giving him larger loans. To reach this conclusion, Engoron himself valued Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida at $18 million, a figure Trump claimed was up to 35 times less than the property's true value. Some real estate experts have said Casts doubt On the methods used by Engoron to characterize his character.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday, Trump called Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James — who filed the civil lawsuit against him — “Crazy people and communists.”
“These radical leftist and communist lunatics asked me to pay a ridiculous and absolutely unprecedented fine of over $450 million just because they saw a similar amount in my bank account.” The former president claimed. “I intended to use a lot of this hard-earned money to run for president. They don't want me to do that – interfere in the election!”
Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee to challenge President Joe Biden in the November elections. Although most recent opinion polls show Trump with a slight lead over Biden, he faces several prominent legal challenges, and any financial rulings against him will eat into funds that could be used in election campaigns. Earlier this month, Trump was forced to collect a $91.6 million bond while appealing a defamation case brought by writer E. Jane Carroll.
In addition to these civil cases, Trump faces federal charges over his alleged mishandling of classified government documents and his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. He also faces state-level charges over alleged election interference in Georgia and so-called “bribe” He paid money to porn star Stormy Daniels in New York.
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