Former President Donald Trump scored a win Monday in his fight to reduce a multimillion-dollar bond he must pay in New York and vowed not to let Democrats derail his White House run with an onslaught of legal actions.
A New York appeals court ruled that Mr. Trump can post a $175 million bond against a civil judgment for business fraud, handing him a major lifeline as he confronts a campaign season criminal trial in the city where he built his brand.
Mr. Trump drew a straight line between his legal battles and his Democratic opponent in November by dubbing them “Biden cases.”
“They can’t win an election because of the borders, because of the energy prices, because of inflation, because of Afghanistan — the most embarrassing day in the history of our country,” he said at a Manhattan press conference. He said the wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip wouldn’t have started under his watch.
The five-judge panel of the appeals court significantly cut the bond from $464 million to a more manageable amount for Mr. Trump, who struggled to cobble together the higher figure and fumed about the potential fire sale of his properties.
Although it was a huge win for Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican Party nominee had little time to smile.
SEE ALSO: N.Y. Dems accused of weaponizing courts against many political foes — not just Trump
A criminal court judge rejected Mr. Trump’s attempt to dismiss or delay a trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal hush money payments on the cusp of the 2016 election.
“We had a lot of things happen today. This is election interference. They are doing things that have never been done in this country before,” Mr. Trump said. “This is all weaponization of DOJ and the FBI.”
Mr. Trump faced a Monday deadline to post the bond against the civil judgment or face the seizure of his assets. The appellate decision made the situation more manageable, though Mr. Trump said he wanted to use available funds on his presidential campaign.
Mr. Trump said he planned to lean on his stores of cash to pay the bond. He lashed out at Judge Arthur Engoron, who ruled that the Trump Organization committed rampant fraud by submitting false financial statements to gain favorable terms on loans and insurance.
“He’s either whacked out or dishonest,” Mr. Trump said at the press event at 40 Wall St., which he owns. “One or the other — or both. Probably both.”
Mr. Trump learned the news about the bond while attending a pretrial hearing in the New York criminal case alleging he falsified records to cover up payments to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels and two others in 2016. Roughly $130,000 in hush payments were funneled through Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s attorney at the time, and disguised as legal fees, an indictment alleges.
Judge Juan Merchan of the New York State Supreme Court rejected an attempt to toss the case Monday and scheduled jury selection for April 15.
The judge’s decision means Mr. Trump is on course for a historic trial in the heat of the campaign. Three other criminal matters against the presumptive Republican Party nominee are tangled in pretrial matters and have been delayed.
The New York case is generally not viewed as serious as federal cases that accuse Mr. Trump of conspiring against the U.S. with efforts to overturn the 2020 election and unlawfully keeping government records at his Florida estate after he left office.
Yet the hush money trial could involve unflattering testimony from Ms. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford and who says she had a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump nearly two decades ago. Mr. Trump denies the affair.
“Starting this trial at any point before the election is completely unfair to President Trump, it’s completely unfair to the American people, who are evaluating who they want to be the next president,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche said. “We are going to continue to fight.”
Defense attorneys wanted to dismiss the case or secure a three-month delay because they were given volumes of evidence at the eleventh hour. Judge Merchan was unmoved and scolded the defense for failing to point to case law that warrants their position.
“That you don’t have a case right now is really disconcerting because the allegation that the defense makes in all of your papers is incredibly serious. Unbelievably serious,” Judge Merchan said. “You’re accusing the Manhattan district attorney’s office and the people involved in this case of prosecutorial misconduct and of trying to make me complicit in it. And you don’t have a single cite to support that position.”
The new evidence hasn’t been made public, but Mr. Trump’s attorneys said in a court filing that some of it is “exculpatory and favorable to the defense.” They said the information would have aided the defense investigation and consequential legal filings earlier in the case.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s deputies said they “engaged in good-faith and diligent efforts to obtain relevant information” from the federal investigation.
In the civil case, New York Attorney General Letitia James said she is ready to seize Trump properties if the former president fails to post a bond or pay the judgment entered against him in February.
The court also paused a section of the judgment prohibiting Mr. Trump and his eldest sons from serving as officers of New York companies. The monitor overseeing Trump Organization activities will remain in place.
Mr. Trump said the case would harm New York’s reputation and that businesses are fleeing to Florida, Tennessee and other Sun Belt states. He took personal affront to the attacks on his real estate business, which formed the backbone of his brand as a successful businessman turned politician.
“This is a great company, a company that is doing very well,” Mr. Trump said. “I wouldn’t swap it for any other brand in the world.”
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated how the order would affect the involvement of Mr. Trump and his eldest sons in the business. The order lifted the prohibition against them serving as officers in the New York companies.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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