Donald Trump’s Abysmal Week

Donald Trump has had yet another turbulent week amid his latest White House bid.

In the past few days, the former president has seen major updates regarding his civil fraud penalty issued in New York and worrying signs stemming from the GOP primary and general election rematch against President Joe Biden in November.

Trump’s leadership PAC also disclosed this week that it spent more money in February than it brought in, including millions on Trump’s legal fees.

Below, Newsweek has compiled all the issues Trump faced this week. Trump’s office has been contacted for comment via email.

On March 18, Trump’s legal team said he was unable to secure the $464 million cash bond needed to stop New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office from beginning the process of seizing his properties and assets, after Trump was found liable for filing fraudulent financial statements that inflated his net worth for years.

In court filings, Trump’s legal team said it was a “practical impossibility” to secure the cash bond by the March 25 deadline.

“In the unusual circumstance that a bond of this size is issued, it is provided to the largest public companies in the world, not to individuals or privately held businesses,” Trump’s legal team wrote.

Trump’s lawyers previously submitted a request to a New York court that the former president pay a $100 million bond while he appealed the decision.

In a March 22 post on Truth Social, Trump said he had about $500 million in cash, but that he intended to use “a substantial amount” of it on his 2024 presidential campaign.

On Tuesday, Trump received some positive news after he continued his domination in the GOP presidential primaries, with resounding victories in Florida, Ohio, Arizona, Illinois and Kansas.

However, there were signs that Trump was still not getting as much Republican support as needed, with the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the primary earlier in the month, still receiving more than 500,000 votes on March 19.

This includes more than 155,000 votes (13.9 percent) in Florida and more than 110,000 (18 percent) in the key swing state of Arizona.

The smaller, but still significant, support Haley is receiving in the GOP primary has led to ongoing speculation that Trump may not be able to persuade key moderate and independent voters who backed Haley to support him in November.

Harry Sisson, who is part of a Biden administration initiative to promote the president’s 2024 campaign on social media, posted on X: “Republicans around the country are turning against Donald Trump. We’re seeing it everyday. Lifelong conservatives won’t put up with his insanity anymore.

“To moderate Republicans, conservatives, and Nikki Haley voters: we’ll welcome you with open arms to the Biden side.”

On March 21, Trump’s Save America PAC also disclosed that in February, it spent more than $5.5 million on the former president’s ongoing legal fees across four criminal trials, the largest amount for such an expenditure since the group was formed in 2020, Reuters reported. The PAC has now spent more than $55 million on Trump’s legal bills since the start of 2023, the news agency said.

In addition, Federal Election Commission filings showed that the political action committee overall spent more than it brought in last month, spending more than $7.2 million while bringing in just over $5 million.

Finally, polls released this week have suggested Biden has a slim lead over Trump in the 2024 election, or that the two presumptive nominees are tied in a race that remains too close to call race.

A YouGov/Economist poll of 1,510 registered voters showed Biden with 44 percent, just ahead of Trump’s 43 percent.

A Florida Atlantic University PolCom and Mainstreet Research survey released on March 19 showed Biden and Trump tied with 44 percent of the vote each.

When the results are broken down to those who said they were likely to vote in November’s presidential election, Biden gained a 2-point lead over Trump, receiving 47 percent of the vote to Trump’s 45 percent.

“This difference falls within the margin of sampling error, rendering the presidential race too close to predict a definitive winner at this stage,” Dukhong Kim, an associate professor of political science at FAU, said in a statement. “Notably, a mere 4 percent of undecided likely voters underscore the tightness of the election.”

A March 18 survey from Morning Consult also showed Biden and Trump neck and neck with 43 percent each.