'They had a duty': Experts erupt over Trump lawyers' potential 'deception' on fraud bond

Donald Trump's lawyers may have made misrepresentations to the court regarding the former president's bond in his civil fraud case, and legal experts are looking out for what comes next.

ProPublica reported on Friday that Trump's attorneys "had told the appellate court it was a 'practical impossibility' to get a bond for the full amount of the lower court’s judgment, $464 million."

"But before the judges ruled, the impossible became possible: A billionaire lender approached Trump about providing a bond for the full amount," according to the recent report. "The lawyers never filed paperwork alerting the appeals court. That failure may have violated ethics rules, legal experts say."

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That news made its way around the internet over the weekend, with various people chiming in.

ProPublica Illinois deputy editor Steve Mills asked the question, "Did Trump and his lawyers fail to disclose key details about his bond?"

That led former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann to post a related reminder.

"And the $175 bond has reported issues: the surety company may not be licensed to give bonds in NY & may not have met the NY solvency reqs (can't post more than 10% of its worth so it is solvent to meet the bond requirements). 4/22 hearing scheduled by the court."

Former prosecutor Barbara McQuade also chimed in:

"AG is doing her job on behalf of the people of New York to inquire into whether Trump’s appeal bond meets legal standards," she wrote on Sunday in response to Weissmann. "The risk is that if Trump loses his appeal and he can’t pay the $454M judgment, then taxpayers lose."

In response to ProPublica's piece, Trump campaign aide A.J. Delgado said, "Looking more and more like Trump did not, in fact, post the bond (at least not a proper one)."

Speaking to MSNBC on Sunday, former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti also said the lawyers involved have a "duty" to correct their statement. He noted that attorneys have additional obligations to be honest to the court.

In the comments on the post from Mills, ProPublica's readers weighed in on the subject.

"Of course they 'neglected' to do this," Barbara Levitan, @BarbaraLevitan, wrote. "There are no accidents with Trump, only deliberate deception."

Mary Miller, @eaglzfan1967, said, "THEY LIED - THEY HAD A DUTY TO CURE THEIR FALSE STATEMENTS."

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