Who has time to run for office?
Just as the presidential-campaign season kicks into high gear with the Super Tuesday primaries, Donald Trump finds himself mired in a perfect storm of legal problems.
In March, the first of four criminal trials Trump faces is set to begin. He also must resolve the pressing issue of securing the more than half a billion dollars in bonds he needs in order to appeal two civil cases he lost earlier this year.
Trump’s legal travails have done little so far to dent his chances of being nominated to run once again as the Republican candidate for president: He is expected to cruise to a win in the 16 primary states that vote on Tuesday.
But instead of focusing on the campaign trail, Trump has had to spend increasing amounts of time huddled with lawyers. He has also had to spend much of the money he has raised through campaign donations in order to pay for his legal defense.
For Trump, it will be March Madness in the courts as he attempts to deal with all the issues stemming from his legal challenges.
The bills coming due
Trump’s most pressing legal problem may actually be a financial one. By the end of March, the billionaire real-estate tycoon must figure out how to post two enormous bonds totaling over half a billion dollars in order to pursue appeals in two civil cases he lost in recent months.
In mid-February, Trump and his two eldest sons were found liable in New York State Supreme Court, a trial-level court, for lying about the value of the family’s real-estate assets for years in order to get favorable rates from lenders, in a case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The trial judge in the case ordered Trump to pay $454 million in penalties, barred him from having any involvement in the company for three years and placed the business under the guidance of a court-appointed monitor. The judge also blocked the Trump Organization from borrowing money from any financial institution registered in New York state.
Trump has claimed that the case and the verdict are politically motivated.
That verdict came on the heels of Trump’s loss in a federal defamation case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, who had accused him of raping her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. In that case, Trump was ordered to pay Carroll $83.3 million in damages. Trump denied raping Carroll and has said that defamation case and ruling are also politically motivated.
In both those cases, the rulings require Trump to post all the money awarded in penalties and damages, either in cash or in the form of a bond, in order to proceed with his appeals. That has proved to be a gargantuan task. Last week, Trump asked the appellate court to allow him to post a reduced sum of $100 million in the corporate-fraud case, because it was proving impossible to secure a bond for the full $454 million. His lawyers said that he may have to sell some property — which he would not be able to get back even if his appeals were successful.
An appeals judge rejected the motion but did grant an interim stay on the bars against Trump and his sons running the company and getting loans from New York-registered financial institutions, which should provide him some leeway. A five-judge appellate panel has agreed to review the matter later this month. In the meantime, Trump has until March 25 to post the bond, at which time the attorney general’s office could begin seizing his property.
Stormy Daniels.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Stormy Daniels
While Trump seeks to resolve his financial quandaries, he also must prepare for the first criminal case to be brought to trial against him. The case, brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, alleges that Trump falsified business records in an attempt to obscure hush-money payments to adult-film star Stormy Daniels and onetime Playboy Bunny Karen McDougal with the aim of burying their claims of having had affairs with him. A trial date has been set for March 25.
The case revolves around an alleged arrangement Trump and his then-lawyer Michael Cohen had with the National Enquirer to identify potentially damaging stories about Trump when he was running for president in 2016 and make them go away. The tabloid practice is known as “catch-and-kill.”
Court documents laid out three instances in which Trump, Cohen and the Enquirer’s publisher, David Pecker, arranged for payouts to people who were shopping damaging stories about Trump. Those included Daniels, who was paid $130,000, and McDougal, who received $150,000.
The case primarily focuses on the payment to Daniels, which was made directly by Cohen through a shell company he created. Trump is accused of falsifying business records by directing Cohen to be reimbursed through phony invoices for “legal services.”
Trump has also dismissed that case as being politically motivated.
A little breathing room
Trump received a bit of breathing room last week in a case alleging he attempted to illegally overturn the 2020 election. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments regarding his claim of blanket immunity for his actions while president.
The trial for the case, which was brought in Washington, D.C., by Special Counsel Jack Smith, was initially slated to begin at the end of March, but the start date has been pushed back as Trump pursues his appeal to have the charges dismissed.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral arguments on April 22 and is expected to rule before the end of its session in June. Barring any other holdups, that would put the earliest possible start date for the trial in September or October, just weeks before the election in November.
More storm clouds ahead
These legal matters aren’t the only ones Trump faces. He will have to defend himself against charges in a Florida federal court of illegally keeping classified documents after he left the White House. He also must deal with charges in a racketeering case in Georgia that accuses him and many of his advisers of attempting to illegally subvert the 2020 presidential election in that state.
A preliminary start date for the trial in the Florida documents case has been set for May 20, although that could be pushed back. Prosecutors in Georgia have sought an Aug. 5 trial date in the election case, but the judge has not yet set the calendar. That case has been plunged, at least temporarily, into disarray as the defendants have sought to have Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis dismissed, alleging she had an improper relationship with the special prosecutor she hired to handle the case.