According to recent reports, former President Donald Trump could receive a windfall of nearly $3.5 billion after Digital World Acquisition Corp. shareholders approved a merger with his critically acclaimed social media platform Truth Social.
The news is particularly important for Trump given the timing of the ruling from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil fraud case against the GOP frontrunner, where James is taking measures to seize Donald Trump’s assets to pay the $464 million fine. An injection of such liquidity from the potential merger would help Trump satisfy this legal expense since the bulk of his multi-billion dollar net worth is tied up in illiquid real estate.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally approved the merger last month, giving Trump Media & Technology Group the green light to trade on the stock market under the ticker symbol “DJT” as early as next week.
Conservative commentator and founder of Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk, commented on the recent news, explaining some of the details around the potential merger. Kirk stated that the former president could seek a waiver and liquidate stock to pay the bond in the Letitia James case.
“Shareholders have just voted to make Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, a publicly traded company. This could net Trump a windfall of $4 billion. The President would need to seek a waiver to liquidate his stock before the end of a lockup period in order to use the cash to secure a $450 million bond in the Letitia James, “Get Trump” fraud case to then appeal the decision. Trump has nearly $500 million in cash, but experts claim he needs $1 billion in cash to secure a bond that size,” Kirk wrote on X. “The merger approval means TMTG stock will trade on Nasdaq as “DJT” as early as next week.”
The New York civil fraud case has received considerable backlash from conservatives who have criticized the exorbitant fine, totaling nearly half a billion dollars. The American Tribune reported on comments from legal expert Jonathan Turley, who sounded off on Judge Engoron and his ruling.
“If the court was really concerned about whether Trump would be honest in future dealings, they could have just imposed a monitor,” Turley said. “Instead he imposes this ridiculous amount of penalty on Trump. He could have picked any figure because none of us could make sense out of this. He could have said a trillion dollars and he just sits back and watches the defendant scramble to have to sell off properties in order to protect properties. And, you know, this is going to eventually have to go to some judge who is going to say enough. I mean, this really shocks the conscience.”
“What’s happening to the New York legal system is truly alarming,” Turley further stated. “This was one of the premier systems in the world for businesses and now people are fleeing New York. They see what’s happening here. And, you know, this is a judge who could have resolved this. He could have come up with an easy solution.”
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