Speaking on Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends,” legal analyst Jonathan Turley explained why he thinks New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil fraud trial into Trump and threat to seize his New York properties if he cannot pay the full $465 million bond by March 25 is a case of “mob justice.” Turley also indicated that Trump has few remaining options in the case.
As background, Judge Arthur Engoron put a 30-day stay on the finding that Trump was liable in the civil fraud case, at which point he would either have to pay the bond or pay the court and drop the case. He plans to appeal it, so he needs to post bond, but is struggling to come up with the gargantuan sum. AG James has threatened to seize his properties in New York if he can’t pay the full amount.
Turley, commenting on the situation, pointed out that it is absurd Trump has to pay nearly half a billion dollars in bond just to appeal the case, as it effectively requires a sale of the highly expensive properties. He argued that a higher court needs to step in and deal with the situation, particularly the massive bond required for appeal.
Beginning, Turley gave his take on the position of Judge Arthur Engoron in the case and how it has led to Trump’s appeal woes, saying, “B]asically, his position is, ‘In order to get any other judge to look at what I’ve done to you, you’ve got to come up with basically a half a billion dollars just to appeal.’”
He continued, explaining how that sort of ruling would impact normal Americans, saying, “It’s like a judge saying, ‘I’m going to take your house away, but you can appeal my decision, you just have to sell your house in order to do it.’”
Then, getting to his point about NY AG James’ conduct in this case looking increasingly like “mob justice” targeted against former President Trump, Turley said, “It doesn’t, many people look at this as a type of almost mob justice! As you know, the attorney general ran on bagging Trump. She’s now pledging to seize his property just because he can’t come up with this bond.”
Concluding, he called on the higher courts to step in and stop AG James and Judge Engoron from maintaining such a shocking policy, saying, “At some point, the courts have got to step in and say, look, this is just simply enough. You know, you’re acquiring this astronomical bond just for this guy to be able to get any other judge to look at this decision.”
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Watch Turley here:
Trump, giving his take on the situation on Truth Social, wrote, “Any business thinking about moving into New York State is CRAZY! The level of anger and hostility toward businesses and business people is incredible. Numerous people have spoken to me about this since the Racist and Politically Corrupt A.G., who ran for office on a platform of “I will get Trump” without knowing anything about me or my business, and her corrupt puppet Judge, Arthur Engoron, who has already been overturned 4 times on this case, a record, started doing a number on me. Engoron laughed with disdain at the Appellate Division, his superior court, when they handed down a decision which essentially ended most of the case, and he REFUSED TO ABIDE BY IT. This is the first time something like that has ever happened in New York State. He is a Crazed, Trump Hating, Rogue Judge, has ZERO respect for the Appellate Judges, and has torn apart the Legal System in New York State, making it impossible for outside businesses to want to come there. Existing businesses will flee!!!”
In another post, he wrote, “Judge Engoron actually wants me to put up Hundreds of Millions of Dollars for the Right to Appeal his ridiculous decision. In other words, he is trying to take my Appellate Rights away from me when I have already won at the Appellate Division, but he refuses to accept their already made decision. Nobody has ever heard of anything like this before. I would be forced to mortgage or sell Great Assets, perhaps at Fire Sale prices, and if and when I win the Appeal, they would be gone. Does that make sense? WITCH HUNT. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!“
Featured image credit: By Thomas Good – Thomas Good / Next Left Notes, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5246174