It’s a worry, of course, when an elected official goes after a defendant with an outrageous bond and threatens to confiscate his property. But James’ $454 million bond against Trump was slashed 61% by an appeals court Monday. Trump now must pay a bond of $175 million over the next 10 days.
James is pursuing Trump on charges of fraud.
It’s one of multiple cases brought against the GOP nominee as Trump seeks to take the White House from President Joe Biden in a rematch of the 2020 election.
The only case that has a chance to get to trial before the election is the effort by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to convict Trump on charges of paying $130,000 to adult film star Story Daniels.
Judge Juan Merchan this week rejected a request by Trump attorneys to delay the trail over the prosecution’s late-stage production of roughly 100,000 documents related to the case.
The trial is currently scheduled to begin on April 15.
“This case is probably the only one that’s going to get to trial before the November election,” Marc Lotter, the director of strategic communications for Trump’s 2020 campaign, told American Family Radio host Jenna Ellis.
The case involves payments to Daniels totaling $130,000 that were paid in 2016, the year Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in win the presidency.
The payments were made by Michael Cohen, a former Trump attorney turned critic, who now will be Bragg’s star witness.
“I really think this is the weakest of the cases against Trump, and there may be a chance that even a New York jury doesn’t convict him of this,” Lotter predicted.
Bragg is alleging the payments amounted to an illegal benefit to Trump’s campaign, Lotter said.
“There’s nothing they won’t twist,” Lotter said, noting that Trump did not use campaign funds to pay Daniels.
He compared the case to 2011 charges against former Presidential candidate John Edwards, of North Carolina, who used campaign funds to cover up a mistress and child. The jury deadlocked and federal prosecutors dropped the case.
“Trump didn’t use campaign funds, and now in New York they’re trying to charge him for not using campaign funds because they’re saying it was an illegal benefit to his campaign,” Lotter said.
It all comes back to Bragg
Federal prosecutors did not file those charges against Trump, nor did the previous New York state attorney general. So it all comes from Bragg, a local district attorney.
The age of the allegation is also an issue, Lotter said, noting that charges have come eight years after the fact.
Geraldo Rivera, who was once a Trump supporter, denounced him in 2022 over Trump’s rigged election claims. Rivera now says it's wrong for Trump to be charged in this case.
In a lengthy X post Monday, Rivera called the case “overcharged,” adding “This is the first time in our 248 years as a nation that a former President has been charged criminally. Shouldn’t it be for something less squishy and political?”
Not only is the case weak, Lotter said, the strategy of tying up Trump in a courtroom could backfire in a couple of ways. It is true that Trump on trail means no Trump on the campaign trail, but when court is finished for the day, Trump will have a big megaphone for sidewalk press conferences to say his peace.
There’s also the matter of Trump’s rising popularity when voters believe he’s been unfairly targeted.
During the GOP primary season, he surged at these times.
The goal of Democrats to get Trump in a "defendant's chair," Lott said, but he knows that and will fight back.
"They’re saying this trial could take six to eight weeks, and the judge is basically going to hold court four days a week keeping him locked in there," Lott advised. "The thing they’re missing is that he’s going to walk out of that courtroom at least once or twice a day and hold his own court."
The Trump message while he’s in court
Lotter said Trump’s team is already likely planning for an appeal.
“He’s probably already assumed that he's going to lose with a New York jury. This is going to go to appeal. So, he's going to fight this out every day in the court of public opinion, and I think that's a very strong position for him, and he'll still be able to do one rally a week on Wednesdays and maybe on the weekends for the next six to eight weeks.
“He’ll remind people that while they’re worried about paying for gas, higher grocery prices, the southern border, the war, he’s sitting there having to defend himself as opposed to making his case because Joe Biden doesn’t think he can beat him at the ballot box,” Lotter said.
