Democratic AG: Trump’s ‘reckoning is coming up quick’ with $454M bond deadline 

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) said Sunday that former President Trump’s “reckoning” is quickly approaching if he does not pay the damages in his civil fraud case by the Monday deadline to pay a $454M bond.

Asked by MSNBC’s the Rev. Al Sharpton if he is “confident” justice will soon be served, Ellison responded: “Yes, I am confident and I just want to commend Attorney General Letitia James for pushing justice and making sure that nobody’s above the law, nobody’s beneath the law.”

“Certainly, Donald Trump is being treated just like any other civil defendant. He’s got to come up with the bond, or he’s going to see a levy and execution seizure on the judgment,” he continued, adding later, “His moment of reckoning is coming up quick.”

Monday marks the deadline for Trump to post the $454 million bond in his civil fraud case before the state can begin potentially seizing his assets, which James, a Democrat, has threatened to do.

He was ordered last month to pay nearly $355 million — before interest — after a judge ruled Trump, the Trump Organization and top executives were liable for fraud and conspired to alter the former president’s net worth for tax and insurance benefits. The judgment increases about $112,000 in interest each day he does not pay, and interest began accruing years before the judgment was handed down.

Trump’s lawyers said last week it will be impossible for them to secure the nearly half a billion dollar bond, noting they spent “countless hours” negotiating with “one of the largest insurance companies in the world,” but no company would back the amount. Yet Trump has claimed he does have the money.

Also last week, the New York attorney general’s office took the first step toward seizing one of Trump’s assets, filing judgements in Westchester County, where Seven Springs, his resort and private estate, is located.

Trump lambasted the judge’s order in a series of posts on social media last week, arguing it is another attempt to “interfere” with the presidential election, where he is the presumptive Republican nominee. His legal team has already appealed the ruling, reiterating Trump’s claim the judgement amount was intended to deplete his available cash.

Monday’s deadline lines up with an expected hearing for the former president’s criminal hush money case — also in New York. He faces 34 counts of falsifying business records related to reimbursements to then-fixer Michael Cohen, who paid porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 ahead of the 2016 election in exchange for staying quiet about her alleged affair with Trump.

The hush money trial had been slated to start this week, until federal prosecutors this month began turning over what would become more than 100,000 pages of records. The trial is now delayed until at least mid-April.

On Monday, the parties are set to battle in a New York courtroom over whether the records require another delay — or even sanctions — as Judge Juan Merchan attempts to ascertain why they weren’t turned over earlier.

Ellison predicted Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) — who brought the hush money case against Trump — “is going to see justice served as well.”