Donald Trump is vowing to take his monster $500 million civil judgment "all the way to the Supreme Court" as New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) begins taking steps to seize his iconic real estate holdings.
The seizure of Trump's property would be a severe financial blow and a shocking display of force against the political opponent of the current president, Joe Biden.
James submitted judgments for Trump's sprawling Seven Springs golf course and estate, located in Westchester, New York, on March 6, days after Judge Arthur Engoron slapped Trump with a staggering fine.
Trump has until Monday to cover a $500 million bond, and James has warned she will start seizing Trump's assets if he doesn't pay.
His lawyers have said Trump does not have the cash to cover the full bond amount, and no underwriter is willing to accept real estate as collateral.
In a letter to the appeals court, Trump's attorneys blasted the bond as "patently unreasonable, unjust, and unconstitutional" and dismissed James' argument that Trump has ways to pay.
Among her suggestions was for Trump to hold a "fire sale" of his property, but Trump's lawyers said this would subject him to "massive, irrecoverable losses" in the event he wins on appeal.
"The Attorney General provides no basis to dispute this obvious economic reality," they said.
"It would be completely illogical—and the definition of an unconstitutional Excessive Fine and a Taking—to require Defendants to sell properties at all, and especially in a “fire sale,” in order to be able to appeal the lawless Supreme Court judgment," they wrote.
Trump has frequently noted that James campaigned for her office with an explicit promise to go after him, and he has dismissed her case as one part of a coordinated campaign to sway the upcoming election.
His various legal cases, civil and criminal, have put him at a significant cash disadvantage ahead of his rematch with Biden.
In a surprise development, Trump said Friday that he has enough cash to pay the bond, but he isn't giving any to the "Trump-hating" judge.
"I’ll fight this all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary," Trump told Fox News Digital.
"They can’t take away your property before you’ve had a chance to appeal the decision of a Trump-hating, incompetent judge who has been overturned more than any judge in the state."
