As previously noted, Letitia James campaigned on getting Trump. There was nothing specific- she was just going to get him. And she did get him- in an environment completely hostile to Trump. It is unquestionably a political persecution meant specifically to ruin Trump financially and politically. She won the battle, but she is going to lose the war.
Virtually every day of the trial the porcine James sat in and smugly smirked. She trolls Trump daily on X (Twitter). With the aid of a deranged judge, she obtained an astronomically large judgment against Trump. Worse, and brutally un-American, was the demand that the penalty be paid or bond posted before an appeal could be proffered. It’s a clear violation of Trump’s rights under the 8th Amendment.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
The fine (half a billion dollars) is cruel and excessive by anyone’s measure. Reports have James moving on Trump’s assets and have seen some pretty interesting possibilities suggested, such as putting a padlock on Trump Tower on 40 Wall St.
“Perhaps worst of all, the Attorney General argues that Defendants should be forced to dispose of iconic, multi-billion-dollar real-estate holdings in a ‘fire sale,’” Trump attorney Clifford Robert seethed in a letter to New York’s Appellate Division Thursday.
“By demanding an undertaking in the full amount of the judgment in order to appeal, the Attorney General and Supreme Court have sought to impose a patently unreasonable, unjust, and unconstitutional (under both the Federal and New York State Constitutions) bond condition,” his legal team also said.
The argument for selective prosecution is compelling. Banks do not simply accept word of mouth the valuations of properties used as collateral for loans. They do their own due diligence. Not a single banker complained about Trump and they said they’d do more business with him. Yet James did not bring conspiracy charges against any of them.
Ms. James ran for office in 2018 on the promise of taking down Mr. Trump. That she turned up evidence of inflated assets on financial statements he provided banks to obtain loans should have come as no surprise given his penchant for puffery. But her investigation into his vast business dealings failed to produce evidence of fraud.
No bank claimed to have lost money by lending to Mr. Trump, or to have been deceived by his financial legerdemain. Nor did any witnesses at trial say his alleged misrepresentations changed its loan terms or prices. Ms. James’s 2022 lawsuit lacked any evidence that Mr. Trump profited from any alleged wrongdoing.
A former Deutsche Bank risk manager testified at trial last year that the bank’s loan decisions were based on its own analysis, not Mr. Trump’s word. Banks know regulators can punish them for failing to do due diligence when underwriting loans.
Before the 2007-08 housing meltdown, banks qualified borrowers for larger loans than they could afford, often based on inaccurate financial records. Regulators later dunned them for slipshod underwriting. Yet Ms. James bizarrely argued that banks have somehow been victimized by Mr. Trump’s alleged misrepresentations even though they made money from the loans.
No one would underwrite the bond Trump sought, likely because they would become targets of James.
The damage done by James will go well beyond Trump. An interview with Kevin O’Leary:
“What’s going on in New York, it has nothing to do with Trump. That case is over. What’s going on now is concerning financial markets all around the world,” O’Leary told Fox News host Jesse Watters Thursday.
…
“I mean, seizing assets after 22 days, in a bankruptcy court you get years to resolve this,” the O’Leary Ventures chair stressed.
…
“I don’t care what color you are, red or blue or independent, doesn’t matter. We are the bastion of safety when it comes to investing large pools of capital,” he told the host.
…
O’Leary voiced that he’s “very disturbed” by the legal turmoil unraveling in New York City, arguing that “it doesn’t matter that it’s Trump, it could be anybody.“
Yes, it could be anybody. Any Republican candidate in NY. Any businessperson with the wrong political outlook. Investors would be wise to avoid New York.
And there’s more. Trump observed the possible outcome should his appeal prevail (and it’s highly likely it will)
“If I sold assets, and then won the Appeal, the assets would be forever gone. Also, putting up money before an Appeal is VERY EXPENSIVE. When I win the Appeal, all of that money is gone, and I would have done nothing wrong,” Trump fumed on Truth Social Thursday.
Here’s the fun part of that from William Shipley:
NY State Taxpayers.
Let’s presume that AG James begins to seize Trump properties, and then sells one or more of them in order to collect on the judgment entered by the Court.
Let’s also presume that the judgement is overturned on appeal or dramatically reduced on an 8th Amendment challenge.
Where does Trump go to recover what it is he will have lost?
The NY Taxpayer. Enjoy.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
