Jake Tapper mocked Donald Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba this week after Habba failed to rule out the possibility of using foreign money to pay the ex-president’s $464 million appellate bond, RadarOnline.com can report.
In the latest development to come ahead of Trump’s deadline on Monday, Tapper and his CNN guests discussed the 45th president’s ongoing struggle to secure enough money to appeal Judge Arthur Engoron’s massive civil fraud judgement.
While Tapper and guest Paul Begala speculated that Trump might turn to Russia, China, or Saudi Arabia for the nearly $500 million, the pair also mocked Habba over an interview she held with Fox News on Wednesday.
“Well, there’s rules and regulations that are public,” Habba responded when Fox’s Martha MacCallum asked whether Trump might seek money from foreign powers. “I can’t speak about strategy, that requires certain things, and we have to follow those rules.”
Flash forward to Thursday night, and Tapper and his guests could not help but ridicule Habba over her concerning response.
“I mean, that wasn’t a no,” Tapper laughed. “It wasn’t an answer at all!”
“I bet you, if she was ready for the questions, she may have answered differently,” political correspondent Alex Thompson added. “But how you’re not ready for the question, is really interesting.”
Meanwhile, Begala expressed concern that Trump would turn to foreign adversaries like Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia to secure the $464 million needed to appeal Judge Engoron’s civil fraud judgment.
“I think the – as a citizen – the thing that’s most frightening is there seems to be no legal bar to him taking this money from hostile foreign powers, from maybe some billionaire in China, billionaire in Saudi Arabia, billionaire in Russia,” Begala warned.
“This would compromise our national security if he were to be returned to the White House, and he’s a 50-50 shot to return,” Tapper’s guest continued.
“So I think that, for all citizens, the thing that really terrifies us is that Mr. Trump could very well be beholden to whoever puts up this bond.”
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As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Trump has until Monday to post his $464 million appellate bond before New York Attorney General Letitia James is allowed to start seizing his assets.
Trump’s lawyers already announced that the former president was unable to secure a loan to cover the $464 million from over 30 lenders, and Trump himself complained that he would be “forced to sell great assets” at “fire sale prices” to make up the money needed to cover the appeal.
Other Trump insiders, such as former White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah Griffin, warned that there was “no question” the embattled ex-president would accept money from Russia, China, or Saudi Arabia to cover his $464 million civil fraud appellate bond.
“If an oligarch in Russia, or a Chinese business official, wants to help him get this money, I have no question that he would end up accepting it,” Griffin noted this week.