It looks like Donald Trump’s bond problems haven’t actually been solved, as the former President has still failed to actually put up the $91 million that he owes for the bond in order to appeal the E. Jean Carroll defamation verdict against him. Instead, the insurance company that posted the bond gave Trump 30 days to pay, something that Carroll’s lawyers are now forcing the court to take action on. If the judge denies the bond due to a lack of payment, it could all be over for Trump, as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains.
Transcript:
*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.
There’s an important piece of information that has been missing from the discussion of Donald Trump paying the $91 million bond in order to appeal the E. Jean Carroll defamation verdict against him. And the fact is, Trump didn’t actually pay the bond. See, that part is actually the biggest part of the story, right? The fact that Donald Trump has not actually paid $91 million to appeal the bond. And yet last Friday when it was announced that they had posted the bond and they appealed the case, everybody said, okay, well he paid it, but he didn’t pay it. In fact, according to Roberta Kaplan, who is E. Jean Carroll’s lawyer, she put in a filing to the judge this past weekend and she said, hey, hold up. Whoa, there is some fine print in this insurance bond that he has posted that we need to pay attention to. And here’s what it is, by the way.
And Judge Lewis Kaplan overseeing the case demanded answers from the Trump people. And so far as of this recording, he has not provided those answers. But here’s what happened. Donald Trump found this insurance company that said, yes, we will post the bond for you, which is how a bond works. You have to go to a separate company. You don’t just write ’em a check for $91 million. You have to go through the bond company, which is typically an insurance type company. They post it, you pay them, but Trump didn’t pay them. The bond was posted by the insurance company. So that is secure, but unfortunately, secure doesn’t mean there’s anything backing it. So if the appellate court were to come out today and say, nope, we’re not gonna take your case, Trump would have to pay that money, which means the insurance company would have to pay the money, but the money’s not actually there.
And that, of course, is the major concern of E. Jean Carroll’s lawyers because in the fine print that Roberta Kaplan pointed out to Judge Kaplan this week, no relation, the fine print in that bond agreement says that Donald Trump has 30 days after a judgment or, you know, a loss of appeal, whatever, to actually pay the insurance company, which means E. Jean Carroll’s payment, which would be due immediately, would be delayed 30 days. But then there’s another caveat. The insurance company, if Trump can’t pay, then has an additional 30 days for them to come up with the money, which means E. Jean Carroll’s payment will be delayed another 30 days on top of the original 30. So they screwed her over, this insurance company did, and of course, the Trump people by having these caveats in there, and by him not actually having to pay the $91 million right away.
So if all of this stinks to high heaven to you, good, you’re paying attention and you understand what I’m saying. Trump was supposed to put up $91 million of his own dollars, and eventually he will have to, the insurance company will come knocking. But he bought himself time in a very sly, slick, possibly not exactly okay with the court kind of way. And the judge is demanding answers. And as I said, as of right now, nobody’s given those answers. But Trump once again got away with not having to pay, at least for now.
