After Donald Trump posted a bond of nearly $92 million on Friday as he appealed the jury’s verdict in E. Jean Carroll’s civil defamation case, legal analyst Andrew Weissmann warned on Sunday that the former president may be “beholden” to people behind the bond.

Trump, the likely GOP nominee in the 2024 presidential race, was ordered in January to pay $83.3 million to Carroll, a former Elle columnist, for damaging her reputation after she accused him of sexually assaulting her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. A separate jury last year awarded Carroll $5 million from Trump for sexual abuse and defamation. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in those cases and said they were politically motivated.

The $91.6 million bond, which Trump posted on Friday, consisted of the $83.3 million judgment, along with statutory interest added by the State of New York. The bond was secured by the Federal Insurance Company, a part of insurance company Chubb Corporation. The bond has since sparked speculation over why the Federal Insurance Company decided to guarantee Trump’s bond and who within the company made the decision.

    • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      4 months ago

      Shit, you can lose clearance for having too much money (i.e., lottery winnings). “Assumed” clearance for certain government roles really should be challenged

    • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      As you recall, some of his family were flagged as security risks, but the president gets the final say so they got clearances anyway. I’m sure it was true for Trump himself.

  • TheJims@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Trump is a walking, talking, living, breathing national security threat and constitutional crisis.

      • Akasazh@feddit.nl
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        4 months ago

        Unfortunately legally alive enough to hold office.

        I’ll have a party the day this changes.

        • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world
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          Dude I never thought I’d see people actually dancing in the street but the day it was declared he lost the election? I had to drop off some recycling and go to the grocery store and everyone was dancing the entire time, we were so relieved. That day you speak of, we might be fuckin in the street instead.

  • DogPeePoo
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    4 months ago

    Worst “businessman” of all time.

    Everybody is leveraged over this pos.

    He’s a real life “Wimpy” who owes everyone and has nothing.

      • Carlo@lemmy.ca
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        4 months ago

        What I’d like to know is if any episode of Popeye took place on a Tuesday. Was Wimpy ever paying up for all those burgers? It may be an apt comparison despite their contrasting levels of spelling ability. Then again, Bluto seems like the more obvious Trump analog.

  • incogtino@lemmy.zip
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    4 months ago

    “Is he somebody who is going to be making policy and being differential to people who have put up money?” Weissmann asked.

    I think that should be deferential

    • kobra
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      4 months ago

      Intelligence didn’t care when it was Russia, why would they care when it’s this bondsman (insurance company or whatever)?

      • Bernie_Sandals@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        The intelligence agencies were literally the ones in government who cared the most about Russia wtf are you talking about? Almost every piece of media coverage you saw of Trump and Russia was originally from intelligence reports.

        • kobra
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          Okay so they reported it but did nothing to stop it? That’s my point I guess.

            • kobra
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              If they couldn’t do anything to stop it, why would OP care if they’re paying attention or not?

              • Bernie_Sandals@lemmy.world
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                I never said they couldn’t do anything, I’m saying they did about what they’re legally allowed to do minus some restraint for not wanting to even be perceived as interfering with an election.

                They blew the whistle so many times it seems yall became deaf to it.

                • kobra
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                  What? I don’t even know what you’re arguing anymore. I swear lemmy is so much more toxic than Reddit could dream to be. I’ve been Reddit free for over a year and this kind of arguing for the sake of arguing is just non stop here. It’s exhausting.

                  Turning off notifications, have a nice life 👋

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        Intelligence didn’t care when it was Russia

        The national bureaucracies are all their own little fiefs, and Comey’s FBI thought he could hold Hillary’s feet to the fire once she got into office by making her first hundred days a scandal plagued mess.

        It isn’t that these folks don’t care. Its that they’re running their own like intrigues and power grabs, in an effort to get a bigger slice of the budget pie and more control over DHS. Trump and Biden are just pieces on a board, and announcing “Trump Scandal!” is only beneficial if the agency heads think they can squeeze something out of the Biden admin in exchange.

        Because at the end of the day, every bureaucrat since Allen Dulles knows how power ultimately flows through Washington D.C. Presidents get a seat at the table, but if they overplay their hands… well… ask a Kennedy (or a Nixon) what happens next.

        • kobra
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          Good point and that’s poor phrasing on my part. I should’ve said “intelligence was seemingly ineffective when it was Russia”

          But yeah I guess I want to wish/hope that someone will do something I just don’t think it’s the intelligence community anymore 😞

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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            I want to wish/hope that someone will do something

            A lot of someones are doing a lot of somethings. Trump isn’t entering some kind of vacuum uncontested. He’s the point of the spear by which a group of theological fascists are carving their way into the higher ranks of government.

            There are large parts of the DC intelligence and law enforcement communities that are big Trump-heads. And there’s a sizable chunk of the media establishment (The Epoch Times, the Washington Times, OAN, the Clear Channel networks) that are openly advocating for his return. Evangelicals LOVE Trump, and they have enormous outsized sway in national politics thanks to their superior organization and fundraising abilities.

            Liberals have sequestered themselves from these venues, so they’re not seeing the mood inside Houston Second Baptist Church or the Florida Chamber of Commerce or the LAPD. But there’s a real pro-Trump movement in this country that’s regained its footing after Jan 6th. They’re out fighting for his reelection far harder than the DC liberals are fighting against it.

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    “MAY”?!

    Grow up. HE is beholden to people. He literally owes them money. He’s also owned by Putin outright (probably from bribes relating to Trump Tower in moscow, as well as a few loan deals facilitated by Dueches bank… ,)

  • Conyak@lemmy.tf
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    Isn’t that what a bond is? They fronted the money with the assumption that he will pay it back if his appeals fail. Maybe I’m missing something but this headline seems obvious.

    • nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca
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      They don’t expect him to pay it back. No reasonable person would expect that. They expect him to do something for them in return should he win the presidency again, for which they will forgive the debt.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      “Haha, the courts are going to make Trump come up with a bunch of money he doesn’t have. How is he going to get out of this one?!”

      Trump trades on favors and promises to raise enormous amounts of cash practically overnight

      “Oh no! The ability to rapidly raise money from cronies means he’s more dangerous than ever before!!!”

      Its just so fucking exhausting watch liberals chase their own tails on this shit. What did anyone expect was going to happen? The Trumps are nothing if not prodigious fundraisers. That’s the whole reason the GOP is so glued to them.

      • BigMacHole
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        4 months ago

        I ALSO hate when people try to hold Billionaires and former US PRESIDENTS accountable!

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Trump, the likely GOP nominee in the 2024 presidential race, was ordered in January to pay $83.3 million to Carroll, a former Elle columnist, for damaging her reputation after she accused him of sexually assaulting her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.

    He later added: “There is a simple way of looking at this, is that he has $450 million reasons to be differential if somebody else is putting up the money or co-signing…That issue of who is actually behind this is something that people who are voting should know.”

    The former president owes further payments in New York after a civil fraud trial judgment was imposed by Judge Arthur Engoron.

    Trump was recently fined roughly $355 million, plus interest, in his New York civil fraud case, which accused him, his two adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, The Trump Organization and two firm executives of fraudulently overvaluing assets to secure more favorable bank loans and taxation deals.

    Meanwhile, Chubb chairman and CEO Evan Greenberg has history with Trump, having been appointed in 2018 to his Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations during his presidency.

    The Washington Post recently reported it is “not clear from court records what collateral Trump presented to obtain the bond from Chubb.”


    The original article contains 635 words, the summary contains 211 words. Saved 67%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!