George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Monday that a ruling reducing the bond former President Donald Trump must post to appeal a civil fraud decision “restores some level of restraint” to the New York legal system.
A New York appeals court reduced the bond Trump must post in order to appeal a ruling by Judge Arthur Engoron to $175 million instead of over $450 million. Turley noted that the reduction could reassure companies about the state’s legal system. (RELATED: ‘Don’t Want To Get In The Crosshairs’: Turley Says Banks Don’t Want To Be Letitia James’ ‘Next Target’)
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“I actually think they could have reduced this bond to virtually nothing because the amount set by Engoron was absurd,” Turley told Fox News host Harris Faulkner. “I mean… most of us drilled down on these figures and could not find a there there. There were no victims, there was no money lost. You had people that loaned this money and wanted more business and so this figure seemed to have been snatched out of the air. He connected it to a few properties, but it was very speculative.”
“By reducing the amount, I think that this restores some element of restraint to the New York legal system. I think that the true sunk costs of this controversy has been borne by those who really wanted this thrill kill moment,” Turley continued. “This has not played well with the public, I don’t think it has played well with companies who were legitimately alarmed to see the New York legal system turned into this inescapable political vortex and I think that the reduction will help assure people that there are still some adults in the room.”
“Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary said after the judgment he would not invest in New York any longer, calling it a “mega-loser state.”
Democratic Attorney General Letitia James promised to investigate Trump during her 2018 campaign for the office, during which she labeled him an “illegitimate president.” She sued Trump in September 2022, alleging he overstated the value of real estate holdings in order to obtain loans.
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