Donald Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba taunted Letitia James after an appellate court reduced the former president’s bond in his civil fraud case.
Speaking in a Fox News interview, the lawyer reacted to the bond being reduced from $454 million to $175 million on Monday.
“I hope she took a little piece of humble pie today because that’s what was served to her, just a little, but we’ll be serving a lot more of that in the next couple of years,” she said about the New York attorney general.
Alina Habba goes scorched earth on Letitia James:
“I hope she took a little piece of humble pie today because that was what was served to her. We’ll be serving a lot more of that in the next couple of years.” pic.twitter.com/NZYeQ9etur
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) March 26, 2024
In February, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Trump had to pay roughly $454 million, with interest included, in penalties for fraud having ruled that the former president and executives at the Trump Organization inflated the value of his assets to obtain more favorable terms from lenders and insurers. The lawsuit, brought by James, initially sought $250 million in damages, but she later increased this figure to $370 million, plus interest.
Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
The former president had been seeking a bond of $464 million to cover his fines and the disgorgement for his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., who were co-defendants in the case. Disgorgement requires a party who benefits financially from illegal or wrongful acts to give up any profits they made as a result of that conduct.
A March 25 deadline was set to come up with a bond amount. It was said that the New York attorney general could begin seizing some of his assets.
But last week, the former president’s legal team said paying the full civil fraud penalty would be “a practical impossibility,” and his lawyers had requested a bond of $100 million instead.
On Monday, a New York court ruled that Trump could post $175 million, and gave him a 10-day deadline to do so.
Posting on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said he would “abide” by the decision and post the bond, but reaffirmed his assertion that he “did nothing wrong.”
“We will abide by the decision of the Appellate Division, and post either a bond, equivalent securities, or cash,” the post read. “This also shows how ridiculous and outrageous [Judge Arthur] Engoron’s original decision was at $450 Million. I DID NOTHING WRONG, AND NEW YORK SHOULD NEVER BE PUT IN A POSITION LIKE THIS AGAIN. BUSINESSES ARE FLEEING, VIOLENT CRIME IS FLOURISHING, AND IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT THIS BE RESOLVED IN ITS TOTALITY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THANK YOU!”
In a statement on the appellate court ruling, James stressed that the lowered bond does not undo the ruling that Trump is liable for fraud.
“Donald Trump is still facing accountability for his staggering fraud,” the statement read. “The court has already found that he engaged in years of fraud to falsely inflate his net worth and unjustly enrich himself, his family, and his organization. The $464 million judgment—plus interest—against Donald Trump and the other defendants still stands.”
Newsweek contacted a representative for Trump by email to comment on this story.
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