Trump threatened by New York AG over payment of civil fraud fine: Live – The Independent

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Letitia James issues warning to Republican after he struggles with questions on Navalny, illegal immigration and classified documents at Fox town hall in South Carolina
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Donald Trump could see his assets seized and even lose his buildings in New York if he cannot pay the $355m fine in his civil fraud case, state attorney general Letitia James has warned.
“If he does not have funds to pay off the judgement, then we will seek judgement enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets,” Ms James said in an interview with ABC News.
“We are prepared to make sure that the judgement is paid to New Yorkers, and yes, I look at 40 Wall Street each and every day.”
Mr Trump took part in a Fox News town hall event in South Carolina on Tuesday evening in which he again compared his own legal struggles to the shocking fate of the late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny.
The former president said last week’s verdict against him amounted to “a form of Navalny”, adding: “It is a form of communism or fascism.”
Elsewhere at the town hall, Mr Trump hinted at a shortlist of possible running mates as he pursues the Republican presidential nomination and committed to debating Joe Biden but struggled with questions about illegal immigration and classified documents.
At the Fox News town hall last night in South Carolina, Donald Trump was asked by Laura Ingraham who was on his shortlist to be his running mate and therefore potentially the next vice president of the United States.
He listed six potential candidates:
— Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina
— Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida
— Vivek Ramaswamy
— Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota
— Former Rep Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii
— Rep Byron Donalds of Florida
“They are… Honestly all of those people are good,” the former president said.
The final judgment in Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial has been published by the New York Attorney General’s office.
Read the full filing here
Judge Arthur Engoron instructed the office to come up with specific judgment amounts and the date from which any pre-judgment interest should be calculated. The latest filing therefore outlines each of the monetary categories with blanks left for the interest that will have been accrued by the date the judgment is entered, as well as the final total.
As we previously reported:
The disgorgement from the Trump Organization’s loan savings amounted to more than $168m. That figure has accrued $75m in interest over nearly five years, with a daily increase of nearly $88,000.
Disgorgement from the sale of the Old Post Office hotel property in Washington DC totals $126m. He owes another $20m in interest.
His total from the sale of the Ferry Point golf course in New York amounts to $60m. With interest, another $3.5m is added to the total.
Both Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump owe $4,013,024 and Allen Weisselberg owes $1m.
Former president faces tens of millions of dollars in financial penalties and a three-year ban from doing business in New York
New York attorney general Letitia James has said the Big Apple is prepared to seize Donald Trump’s assets, including his buildings, if he cannot pay the $355m he owes for a decade of fraudulent business practices.
“If he does not have funds to pay off the judgement, then we will seek judgement enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets,” James said in an interview with ABC News’s Aaron Katersky.
“We are prepared to make sure that the judgement is paid to New Yorkers, and yes, I look at 40 Wall Street each and every day.”
She continued: “Financial frauds are not victimless crimes. He engaged in this massive amount of fraud. It wasn’t just a simple mistake, a slight oversight, the variations are wildly exaggerated, and the extent of the fraud was staggering.
“If average New Yorkers went into a bank and submitted false documents, the government would throw the book at them, and the same should be true for former presidents.”
James also dismissed Trump’s ludicrous claim that the case will lead to a mass exodus of business activity from New York City, saying wryly: “Last I checked tourism is up. Wall Street is doing just fine.”
Letitia James
Once again, a throng of conservative activists, Republican elected officials and young right-wingers will descend on National Harbor, just outside of DC, for another instalment of CPAC.
The event has served multiple purposes throughout the years. It often showcases new conservative talent, sets the tone for what major policies conservatives will champion in the next election and often allows potential candidates for president to test the waters.
Indeed, in 2011, Donald Trump gave his first political speech at the conservative gathering. It debuted his conservative star turn and laid the groundwork for him becoming the Republican nominee for president in 2016 and winning the presidency.
This year, though, with Trump as the GOP’s presumptive nominee, CPAC – which runs from Wednesday to Saturday – will have a different tone and will serve as a booster for his campaign against Joe Biden in the general election.
Here’s what to expect this week, courtesy of Eric Garcia.
Donald Trump will take centre stage, as will his veepstakes, plus plenty of international characters. Eric Garcia reports ahead of the annual conservative gathering
The annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) returns once more this week for another serving of Republican grandstanding, grievance-airing and merchandise shilling.
The four-day event that bills itself as the “largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world” returns to the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside of Washington DC, from Wednesday until Saturday 24 February.
Here’s which right-wing “luminaries” will be taking to the main stage.
Star guests at right-wing event include Donald Trump, Liz Truss and Javier Milei
Despite her bold address on Tuesday, Nikki Haley needs to make something happen.
With the Nevada debacle in the rear view window — an embarrassing defeat to “none of these candidates” in a primary in which Donald Trump declined to participate — it’s officially time for his sole remaining challenger for the GOP nomination to prove that she’s still competitive in the literal sense, rather that just on cable news.
South Carolina is the arena. It’s by no means an ace in the hole, but the state where Haley was governor for eight years is the place where she theoretically should be strongest.
It has an open primary, meaning that independent voters can participate.
And she’ll be back across the state this week, hitting campaign stops in Myrtle Beach, the Charleston suburbs, and a former steel town.
But don’t be surprised if this proves to be the end of the line for this spirited campaigner…
Haley needs momentum. Trump needs more of the same
Here’s Eric Garcia with more on what exactly the former UN ambassador’s game plan is right now.
At this point, it’s fairly clear that Haley is simply waiting out Trump – hoping that his legal affairs get the better of him, Eric Garcia writes.
Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley delivered a defiant speech ahead of her home state’s primary on Saturday and insisted that she will not quit the 2024 race even if she loses.
Haley, who won two terms as governor of the Palmetto State, insisted that she does not fear Trump’s retribution and is in it for the long haul
“South Carolina will vote on Saturday. But on Sunday, I’ll still be running for president. I’m not going anywhere,” she said in Greenville on Tuesday at a press conference at which reporters had assembled fully expecting her to announce that she was suspending her campaign, seeing no path to victory.
Eric Garcia has more.
Republican challenger cites dissatisfaction with both Trump and Biden as a reson for her staying
Joe Biden has reportedly told his campaign aides to hone in on Trump’s more extreme comments and statements, to highlight the differences between the two 2024 frontrunners.
Sources told CNN that Biden wanted Trump’s “crazy s***” highlighted in an effort to show he is unfit to regain the White House, following months of the Republican trying to disparage Biden in a similar way.
Last night’s raving about dishwasher companies in Ohio would be a good start…
Here’s more.
The former President has made a series of blunders in recent weeks while on the campaign trail
Despite Trump’s brief praise of Alexei Navalny as “very brave” last night, it has emerged that the political activist was less than complimentary about him, having issued a chilling warning about what a second Trump administration could mean for the world in one of his final letters to a friend.
Here’s our report.
Late Russian dissident called Republican’s possible return to White House ‘really scary’ prospect
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Former president Donald Trump speaks during a Fox News town hall at the Greenville Convention Center in South Carolina
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