NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump said Friday he has nearly half a billion dollars in cash, but said he’d rather spend it on his presidential campaign than on the $454 million civil fraud conviction against him in New York. The former president has vowed to fight the sentence “all the way to the US Supreme Court if necessary” as the state prepares to potentially seize some of his assets if he fails to pay the hefty sum.
Trump is trying to get a state appeals court to release him from the requirement to provide financial guarantees showing he’s good for the money while he appeals the shocking verdict.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee did not provide any documentation of his cash claims, and his lawyers suggested it was impossible to tie up so much money in bond while maintaining his business and fulfilling other obligations. Among them, according to the financial statements: a condition on one of its home equity loans that it maintain a minimum liquidity of $30 million.
A Manhattan judge in February found that Trump repeatedly lied about his wealth in financial statements given to banks and others to secure loans and close deals. The judge ordered him to forfeit profits from certain real estate deals and money he saved by getting lower interest rates on loans. Trump denies trying to deceive anyone.
As recently as Thursday, Trump’s lawyers reiterated in court filings that they have difficulty in obtaining bond covering the judgment because the insurers insisted on cash, stocks or other liquid assets instead of real estate as collateral. More than 30 bond companies have rejected their requests, they said.
Trump’s lawyers asked the state’s intermediate appeals court to overturn a previous ruling requiring him to post a bond covering the full amount to stop the foreclosure. New York Attorney General Leticia James opposed Trump’s request, urging the appeals court to require the full amount to ensure the state can easily access the money if the conviction is upheld.
To get bail, Trump’s lawyers said he would likely have to pay 120 percent of the sentence, or more than $557 million. The Court of Appeal has not yet ruled.
“I will fight this all the way to the United States Supreme Court if necessary,” Trump told Fox News Channel on Friday. Mischaracterizing the law, he added, “They can’t take your property away from you before you have a chance to appeal.”
Because the fraud case was heard in state court, Trump will likely have to first exhaust the state appeals process or ask a federal court to take up the case, which is rare, to even have a chance to take his fight to the Supreme Court on USA. A litigant who loses in a federal appeals court or in a state’s highest court—in New York, called the Court of Appeals—can then file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which is a document that asks the Supreme Court to review the case.
Contrary to Trump’s claim, asset forfeiture is a common legal tactic when someone can’t access enough money to cover a civil penalty, even while an appeal is pending. An appeal by itself does not stop collection. Barring court intervention, James would be within her legal rights to initiate a seizure of Trump’s assets if he fails to pay.
In a post Friday on his Truth Social PlatformTrump assumed he had enough money to at least cover the entire sentence, but he didn’t think he should spend it that way.
“Through hard work, talent and luck, I currently have almost five hundred million dollars in cash,” he wrote in capital letters, adding that he planned to use a “significant amount” in his presidential campaign.
Trump never thought he would contribute to his own campaign in 2024, and he did attracting donations from external donors since before he left the White House. When he ran for office in 2016, Trump repeatedly claimed to be self-funding his campaign, despite relying on donor funds.
“I don’t need anybody’s money,” he said in his announcement speech in 2015. “I’m using my own money. I don’t use lobbyists, I don’t use donors. I don’t care I’m really rich.”
Trump ended up spending about $66 million of his own money in loans and contributions for that race — far less than the $100 million he often promised.
Whether Trump actually has nearly $500 million in cash, as he has claimed, could become the subject of a future legal battle over his assets. James, a Democrat, could begin efforts to collect on the judgment he won against Trump as early as Monday unless an appeals court intervenes.
James said she was ready are trying to seize some of Trump’s assets, although it was unclear how quickly this might develop. Her office declined to comment on her plans.
Last April, Trump testified in a deposition in a civil fraud case that he had “significantly more than $400 million in cash,” but that was before he sold the rights to manage a New York golf course to casino operator Bally’s for $60 million dollars. Trump recently had to post a $91.6 million bond to default on a $83.3 million defamation verdict of writer E. Jean Carroll while he appealed this case.
Previously, in a financial statement dated June 30, 2021, Trump reported having $293.8 million in cash and cash equivalents and a total net worth of $4.5 billion.
Trump’s considerable personal wealth likely grew even more on Friday when shareholders of a publicly traded shell company approve a deal to merge with its media business, which runs social networking site Truth Social. Based on Thursday’s share price, Trump’s stake in the company could be worth more than $3 billion, although the rules could potentially prevent him from selling newly issued shares for at least six months.
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Associated Press reporter Jill Colvin contributed to this report.