Trump's Lawyer Won't Deny If He's Asked Russia, Saudi Arabia For Bond Money
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Has Donald Trump asked Russia, Saudi Arabia or any other country for help paying his upcoming $464 million bond?
Judging by Alina Habba’s response to exactly that question, he hasn’t not asked for it.
Instead of offering an emphatic “no” during an appearance on Fox News Wednesday ― the obvious and only correct answer ― the Trump attorney said she couldn’t “speak about strategy” and vaguely referred to “rules and regulations.”
“Is there any effort on the part of your team to secure this money through another country, Saudi Arabia or Russia, as Joy Behar seems to think?” host Martha MacCallum asked, referring to speculation that Trump might be susceptible to foreign influence.
“Well, there’s rules and regulations that are public,” Habba said. “I can’t speak about strategy, that requires certain things, and we have to follow those rules.”
Habba then called Trump’s multimillion-dollar fraud settlement “manifest injustice.”
Fox host asks whether Trump is trying to get his bond money from Saudi Arabia or Russia
Trump's lawyer says she can't answer that question. pic.twitter.com/uirBMqEAhj— Lis Power (@LisPower1) March 20, 2024
Hours after Habba’s unsettling non-answer, former U.S. national security adviser Susan Rice sounded the alarm about Trump being under the influence of foreign adversaries.
“In the event that [Trump] has to take that money from an individual or an entity, whether domestic or international, that individual or entity will potentially have real influence over him, and so that is of concern,” Rice told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell.
“There’s just so many ways the stench of money from dubious places infuses his business enterprise, and so this would add more questions should that be the case going forward.”
A New York state judge convicted Trump of civil fraud last month and ordered him to pay more than $350 million in damages for decades of fraudulent business practices.
The number has swelled by roughly $112,000 a day as the debt accrues interest, pending Trump’s attempts to appeal the judgment.
Trump’s lawyers acknowledged this week that the twice-impeached former president, who’s claimed to be worth more than $10 billion, doesn’t have sufficient cash to pay the bond.
New York Attorney General Letitia James provided a 30-day grace period after Trump filed an appeal. That expires on March 25, at which point the state could begin seizing Trump’s assets.
