Eric Trump’s comments about his father Donald Trump’s bond payment from his civil fraud judgment drew ridicule online Sunday.
The former president was hit with a huge penalty after he was found liable in a civil fraud lawsuit brought against him and the Trump Organization by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who accused him of a long-term scheme to inflate his net worth and worth by its assets to secure more profitable business loans. With interest, the penalty is now more than $450 million, and James has begun the process to allow the seizure of Trump’s real estate if he cannot pay or post an appeal bond before Monday. Meanwhile, the former president maintains his innocence.
Although Trump can appeal the ruling against him without bond or cash payment, he will be required to post bond amounting to slightly more than the amount of the penalty against him to stop the seizure of his assets. In a court filing last week, Trump’s legal team acknowledged that he had been unable to secure the bail amount after asking dozens of surety agencies, all of whom turned him down because of the bail amount. The filing referred to the possibility of posting the amount on time as a “practical impossibility.”
Among the co-defendants in the civil suit were former President Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump’s older sons. On Sunday, Eric Trump appeared on Fox News Sunday morning futures where he discusses the difficulties his family is having to secure such a substantial bond payment. Court documents from last week mentioned more than 30 sureties who refused to post the bond.
“No one has ever seen a bond this size,” he said. “Every single person when I came up to them and said, ‘Hey, can I get a half-billion-dollar bond?’” Maria, they laughed. They were laughing.”
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
A segment of the appearance in which Eric Trump made the remark was shared with X, ex-Twitter, by the popular cable news aggregator, Acyn, and was immediately derided by many users.
“Yes, slow Eric. They were,” Rick Wilson, co-founder of the anti-Trump political action committee The Lincoln Project, wrote in a post.
“They know a bad investment when they see one,” wrote attorney Bradley P. Moss.
“Watch Eric Trump moan and whine for three solid minutes because his father is being held accountable for something,” wrote former NBCUniversal executive Mike Sington, sharing a longer version of the clip.
“Nobody’s ever seen a bond this big!” Watch Eric Trump moan and whine for three whole minutes because his father is being held accountable for something. (Video: Fox News) pic.twitter.com/MYrK3tQ8ne
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) March 24, 2024
“Can we all agree that Eric Trump is a complete moron and a crybaby?” user @realXanderXjork asked, while X user @FordJohnathan5 posted: “I’m laughing now.”
Newsweek reached out to The Trump Organization by email Sunday evening for comment.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.