Legal experts were highly critical of a New York appellate court's ruling this morning to reduce Donald Trump's bond by 68 percent and extend his time to post a bond by 10 days in his civil business-fraud case, according to a report at AlterNet.Under the headline "'Travesty of justice': Legal experts stunned over unexplained ruling helping Trump," David Badash writes:
Just hours before Donald Trump’s deadline to post a $454 million bond or start to see the wheels of justice move to seize his assets, a five-judge New York appeals court panel sliced the bond amount by more than half, and handed him an extra 10 days to come up with the cash.
Trump is now required to post a $175 million bond, CNN reports, calling the ruling, “a major lifeline for the former president.
Legal experts are stunned.
Harvard University Professor Emeritus Laurence Tribe, a professor of law for decades who wrote the textbook on the U.S. Constitution, called the appellate court’s ruling “unexplained” and, “a travesty of justice.”
“Let’s hope public disgust with this preferential treatment will come back to bite Trump politically,” Tribe added.
Professor of law, MSNBC legal analyst, and former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance said on-air the judges’ decision is a “mistake.”So here’s the problem. When we think about these sorts of appeals bonds, the numbers are sky high and we don’t always stop to account for what they’re supposed to do,” she began, explaining the purpose of a bond. “This bond is Donald Trump’s promise that he will be able to pay the judgment if he loses on appeal. In essence, the people of New York say you have a right to take an appeal to do that. But we’re entitled to collect our judgment. And this is Trump’s way of saying no all’s good. I believe I might win my appeal, but I’m willing to pay this money and to show that I’m willing to comply with the rule of law.”“And that’s the problem here. Donald Trump is not willing to comply with the rule of law. In my judgment, it was a mistake for the court to reduce this amount of money because even if he pays $175 million in cash into the court fund. it won’t secure the entire judgment if he loses on appeal. And that’s the whole point of what this is intended to do.”
Attorney Tristan Snell, a former New York State Assistant Attorney General who successfully prosecuted the $25 million Trump University case, denounced what he says is Trump’s “special treatment.”
“Donald Trump has a private jet. Donald Trump lives in private clubs. Donald Trump assembled a private militia to attack the Capitol. Now he gets his own private system of justice — available to him alone. NO ONE ELSE would get the special treatment he gets. NO ONE should.”
“Appellate judges hand Trump a gift,” Snell continued, “cut bond down to $175 million, give him 10 extra days Imagine a basketball team down by 40 points, and with 1:00 left in the game, refs give the losing team 5 more minutes — and lower the hoop from 10ft to 6ft.”
On MSNBC Snell called it “so infuriating I don’t even now what to do,” and added, "whatever process they used to come up with the lowered bond amount is “flawed.”
MSNBC legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner declared, “The verdict is in: the rules, the laws, and the Constitution do not apply to Donald Trump the way they apply to you and me.”
Alex Aronson, former chief counsel to Democratic U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, responded to the news with one single word: “Unfuckingbelievable.”
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In a report at Salon, Attorney General Letitia James, who has led the case against Trump, was fairly laid back about the latest developments:
“Donald Trump is still facing accountability for his staggering fraud," New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. "The court has already found that he engaged in years of fraud to falsely inflate his net worth and unjustly enrich himself, his family, and his organization. The $464 million judgment – plus interest – against Donald Trump and the other defendants still stands.”
Here are more reactions from the Salon piece:
“We had anticipated this possibility, given that court's pro-business reputation, but they certainly waited to the last minute to do it,” tweeted former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman.
Conservative attorney and frequent Trump critic George Conway said he was “not surprised” by the ruling.
“I had a feeling they’d split the baby somehow,” he wrote. “Still, a $175m bond is a pretty substantial undertaking.”
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