According to a court ruling, former US President Trump is expected to pay a fine of more than $450 million – a sum that he apparently cannot afford. Now his campaign team is trying to make supporters pay.
After being sentenced by a New York court in February to a fine of more than $450 million for fraud, former US President Donald Trump is apparently hoping for the help of his supporters to be able to raise the immense sum. The campaign team of the Republican, who wants to run against the current incumbent Joe Biden in the presidential election in November, published a call for donations online.
With this call, the campaign team is appealing to a million “patriots” to do their part for the former and possibly future president. This contribution could range from $20.24 to $3,300.
Trump's property could be confiscated
With the help of the donations, the team wants to prevent the properties of the self-made billionaire, as Trump himself presents himself in public, from being confiscated – especially the “Trump Tower” in New York's Manhattan district. Trump supporters expressly warn in their call: “Keep your dirty hands off 'Trump Tower'!”
New York prosecutor Letitia James had threatened to confiscate Trump's property if the fine demanded by the court was not paid by March 25th – next Monday. From the perspective of Trump's campaign team, the verdict represents just another part of the “witch hunt” against the possible candidate in the race for the White House.
Timely payment “practically impossible”
In the civil lawsuit, Trump, his sons and employees were accused of manipulating the value of the Trump Organization for years in order to get cheaper loans and insurance contracts. The Republican was fined more than $350 million, with interest now totaling more than $450 million.
But earlier this week, Trump's lawyers said it would be “virtually impossible” to make the payment on time. They asked for a time delay or to reduce the requested amount to $100 million. Trump has appealed the February ruling, but must pay the fines or provide appropriate collateral in order to appeal.
It is not the only ruling that has expensive consequences for Trump. Just a few days ago he had to put up a security deposit of $96.1 million. The background is the libel trial of the writer Jean Carroll against Trump.
It is still unclear whether Trump could use campaign donations to cover legal costs. US law does not prohibit using campaign funds for personal expenses.
