“Morning Joe” wondered where Donald Trump could get the money to pay a court-ordered $464 million bond, with one guest suggesting that the former president could involve foreign bad actors – which could pose a national security threat.
Trump was told by a New York City judge to pay the amount after being found responsible for civil fraud. If Trump can't pay in full by March 25, New York Attorney General Letitia James has threatened to take possession of assets including Trump’s New York properties.
“What are the chances, though? He doesn’t have someone come up with the money for him and get away with this and everything else he seems to be getting away with,” “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski remarked on Wednesday.
“Jared Kushner walked away from Saudi Arabia with $2 billion. He’s buying land in eastern European countries,” Brzezinski argued. “There’s I think a slight chance he has access to the money.”
MSNBC legal analyst Andrew Weissmann added that who pays the amount for Trump is “everyone’s national security concern,” as it could be someone like “Elon Musk here in the United States or in a maybe equally or more scary way, somebody like an MBS or a Russian oligarch.”
A foreign party, Weissmann points out, could see this as “a very good investment because if he becomes president, there will be 464 million reasons why Donald Trump will favor and that person in terms of his policies.”
Weissmann said that Trump’s “best exit strategy” would be to defer to a third party to pay the amount to prevent an asset seizure.
“And also disclosure of just how fragile his empire is. To keep that all under wraps, his best strategy is to find that third party, even if it is a foreigner who will loan him the money,” Weissmann concluded.
“I want to understand more about how that’s possible,” Brzezinski replied in disbelief.
It wasn’t Brzezinski’s only exclamation at one of Weissmann’s theories on Wednesday, as minutes before she cried out “I don’t believe it!” when the legal analyst said New York district attorney Letetia James could start seizing Trump’s buildings as early as next week. You can read about that exchange here.
