Donald Trump is close to the deadline to post bond in his fraud trial—and he’s screwing himself over even more.

After having reached out to several guarantors and 30 suretors for help posting his $464 million New York bank fraud bond, Donald Trump suddenly wants everyone to know he actually does have the cash.

In a bizarre rant on Friday morning, the man who was found to have defrauded banks and investors by overvaluing himself and the value of his properties claimed that he had accrued the wealth by way of “HARD WORK, TALENT, AND LUCK.”

Trump also admitted he has nearly half a billion dollars in cash.

The confession directly contradicts a filing from his legal team last month arguing that it would be “impossible” to secure a bond covering the full amount of the multimillion-dollar ruling.

Trump’s words will surely help out New York Attorney General Letitia James, who on Wednesday urged an appeals court to ignore Donald Trump’s latest effort to worm his way out of paying the $464 million disgorgement from his bank fraud trial.

  • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Courts generally consider broad statements like “rigged” and “corrupt” to be opinions, which by themselves are not grounds for libel. Libel requires stating specific false facts.

    For example, “The election was rigged” is an opinion. But “Two Georgia election workers threw away GOP ballots” is libel.

    • NovaPrime@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      Libel requires stating specific false facts

      I know what you mean and what you’re intending here but there is no such thing as “false facts.” It’s lies.

      The election was rigged" is an opinion.

      It is not. It’s a bool statement - true or false. The election was not rigged, that’s a fact. Stating otherwise is a lie.

      • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        “Rigged” is an opinion.

        I don’t think it was rigged, but people routinely claim that due to the way the Electoral College works, all presidential elections are “rigged” in favor of the GOP. Similar claims have been made of recent Democratic primaries. Or that elections are rigged in favor of wealthy candidates, or incumbents.

        Courts aren’t going to decide whether it’s true that something is “rigged”, they need something more concrete.

    • ericatty@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      What about “often overturned”? That seems like a fact that could potentially be proven or disproven.

      Especially if the judge has never been overturned, or never/rarely overturned in the context or timeframe of these cases. Assuming that is a false fact for this judge, I don’t know his stats.

      Another judge on his cases has been potentially been “often overturned” based on percentages of total cases/rulings?

      • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        “Often” is an opinion about something that has happened. Just like “a lot”.

        Suppose I said “Boeing aircraft often fail” and you haven’t kept up with the news. You can conclude that they have failed, but you won’t know how many times unless you ask more questions.

        • ericatty@lemmy.ml
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          9 months ago

          What if I say you often get speeding tickets while driving, but you’ve never been stopped by the cops for anything, or you got one speeding ticket 10 years ago? If I keep repeating that you “often get speeding tickets” and it gets you fired - did I not hurt you with a lie?

          Notice I’m not accusing you of speeding. I’m saying you often get ticketed, something that can be verified

          He’s not accusing the judge of “often making wrong or bad decisions” He is saying “often overturned decisions” Has the judge been overturned in these proceedings? Because another federal judge in one of his other cases has been overturned, but he’s not posting about that judge being unfair or “often overturned”

          I feel like there’s a difference, but maybe using “often” murks it up just enough. Like using alleged, “it’s possible”, or “people say” to spread rumors.

          • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            If you say I often get speeding tickets, that’s the same as saying that I’ve gotten speeding tickets and you think I’ve gotten too many.

            The first part is false only if I’ve never gotten one. The second is an opinion.

            I would be surprised if any judge never had any part of any decision changed on appeal. Appeals courts exist to modify what judges do, it just goes with the territory. Engoron is no different this regard, in fact Trump himself was partly successful in appealing one of his orders.