Donald Trump's lawyers notified a New York court that he's not able to find an insurance company willing to underwrite his bond to cover his massive civil fraud judgment, and a Democratic congressman said that opened him up to foreign corruption.
The former president's attorneys said in a court filing Monday that Trump has approached 30 underwriters to back the bond due by the end of this month to pay more than $464 million in penalties and interest, and insurance broker Gary Giuletti signed an affidavit stating that securing a bond for the full amount was "a practical impossibility," reported CNN.
Trump's lawyers asked an appeals court to hold off on posting the bond until his appeal of the judgment was concluded, arguing that the value of his properties was far more than the judgement, but underwriters are seeking cash to back the bond and not property.
“The amount of the judgment, with interest, exceeds $464 million, and very few bonding companies will consider a bond of anything approaching that magnitude,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
That cash crunch made the presumptive Republican presidential nominee a national security risk, according to Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL).
"The presumptive @GOP nominee for President is desperate for $464M (and counting) which he cannot personally access," Casten posted on X. "That fact alone makes him a massive national security risk; any foreign adversary seeking to buy a President knows the price."
The ex-president already secured a $91 million bond earlier this month from the Federal Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Chubb Insurance, while he appeals the defamation case he lost to writer E. Jean Carroll, but Casten said that should also be cause for concern.
"We already lack clarity on what security was provided for the $91M bond he posted in response to the E. Jean Carroll case," Casten said. "That is already a plenty BFD. A guy who wants your trust and wants to be President should disclose his liabilities."
All lawmakers and even congressional candidates are required to post regular reports of their assets and liabilities, but Casten said Trump's finances have never been fully reported to the public and should be more worthy of investigation than President Joe Biden's family members.
"The fact that we don't know this about someone running for the highest office in the land shifts the liability onto our democracy itself," Casten said. "If the @HouseGOP (and in particular, the leadership of the Judiciary Committee) gave a damn about our democracy they would be issuing subpoenas for this instead of their onanistic Hunter [Biden] fetish. The fact that they aren't tells you what they think about democracy too.
"And yes, there is a massive problem that the Senate isn't doing this either," he added. "That problem rhymes with shmilibuster."
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