Former President Donald Trump’s legal battles are piling up on Monday, with the former president appearing in court for the hush money case involving porn actress Stormy Daniels on the same day as the bond deadline in his $454 million New York civil business fraud judgment.
Trump is expected to appear in a Manhattan courtroom on Monday and request another delay in the case against him, where he is charged with falsifying business records while covering up an affair with Daniels, The New York Times reported. In March, the judge overseeing the hush money case — which would’ve begun on Monday — moved the trial start date to April 15 after Trump’s attorneys argued that they needed more time to review a new dump of 100,000 pages of material that could be used as evidence in the case.
The hush money case, brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and widely viewed as the weakest case against the former president, was the first in a slew of criminal charges against Trump and made Trump the first ex-president to be charged with a crime. The former president pleaded not guilty last year to all 34 charges of falsifying business records leveled against him by Bragg.
Meanwhile, if Trump and his legal team are going to stop New York Attorney General Letitia James from potentially seizing Trump’s assets, they must also post bond Monday in the New York civil business fraud judgment leveled against him by Judge Arthur Engoron. The judge ruled in agreement with James last month after the attorney general brought civil charges against Trump, alleging the former president inflated his net worth and misled investors. In his judgment, Engoron ordered Trump to pay $350 million, which increased to $454 million, including interest, and also ordered Trump’s co-defendants to pay $10 million.
James had been abiding by a 30-day grace period following the judgment in the case, but as of Monday, the Democratic attorney general can seek to collect on Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Trump blasted the cases brought against him, posting on Truth Social on Monday morning, “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 former president added. “The D.A. Case, that I am going to today, should be dismissed. No crime. Our Country is CORRUPT!”
In a follow-up post, the leading 2024 presidential candidate added, “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[?] ‘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!”
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Last week, Trump’s lawyers requested a stay on the civil fraud judgment, which they said securing the bond for would be “a practical impossibility,” but a New York appeals court rejected the request. Later in the week, Trump posted on Truth Social, saying that “through hard work, talent, and luck,” he had nearly $500 million cash on hand and “intended to use” the money for his 2024 presidential campaign.
