A two-week respite. The New York justice system granted former United States President Donald Trump ten days on Monday, March 25, to post bail reduced to $175 million.
Initially, Donald Trump had until Monday to provide guarantees that he could pay nearly half a billion dollars in fines, to which he was sentenced in civil court, along with his sons Eric and Don Jr., for fraud financial services within their Trump Organization real estate empire in the 2010s.
If Mr. Trump did not post bail covering at least $454 million (€418 million) in fines plus interest, his family's real estate assets were to be seized and their bank accounts frozen by the local attorney general, Letitia James, who took them to court in October 2022 until having them convicted by New York judge Arthur Engoron on February 16.
Ultimately, the American justice system opted for a compromise, offering the presidential candidate ten days to raise bail of $175 million. If the sum is raised on time, the courts will renounce seizing the assets of the Trump family. A decision with which Donald Trump promises to comply. “We will post either a deposit, or equivalent securities, or cash,” he said on his social networks, assuring that he had “done nothing wrong.”
Appeal after appeal
Mr. Trump's lawyers said they were unable to provide the half-billion-dollar bail initially requested. The former head of state assured Friday that he had “nearly $500 million in cash, a significant portion of which is intended to be used in [his] campaign” against Democratic President Joe Biden. He also benefited from a breath of financial oxygen on Friday with support for the IPO of his media company, Trump Media.
His lawyers have been increasing their appeals for months to delay his trials as much as possible, if possible after the presidential election on November 5. For his criminal indictment concerning payments made before the 2016 presidential election to a former porn star, Stormy Daniels, with whom he allegedly had an extramarital affair in 2006, the trial was scheduled to begin Monday, but was postponed until March 15. at least a month, following the recent addition to the file of thousands of pages of documents. The postponement deadline was confirmed this Monday by the announcement of a new trial date set for April 15.
“The court concludes that the prosecution has complied and continues to comply with its obligations regarding the disclosure of evidence,” said Judge Juan Merchan in the reasons for his decision. The magistrate thus rejected the defense's request to grant him more time.
The defense of Donald Trump, 77, had demanded an adjournment of at least three months, time to study tens of thousands of pages of documents submitted in March to the proceedings. The lawyers also want to wait until the Supreme Court in Washington decides this summer on the question of presidential criminal immunity.
Donald Trump denies any affair with Stormy Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford. He pleaded not guilty to charges of defacing the Trump Organization's accounts to hide the $130,000 paid in October 2016 so that she would keep quiet about a consensual sexual encounter ten years earlier, when he was married to Melania Trump.
