Trump lashes out as he's left with 24 hours to come up with $464m bond – live – The Independent

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New York Attorney General Letitia James is preparing to seize Mr Trump’s assets if he is unable to come up with the $464m bond in his Manhattan fraud trial
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A day before the deadline to pay his 464m bond, Donald Trump has claimed that he has nearly $500m “in cash” despite his own attorneys telling a New York court that he can’t come up with the money.
Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed that he is worth several billions of dollars, with much of that value tied up in the Trump Organization and his brand-building real estate holdings.
Before the Monday, 25 March deadline to post the mammoth bond, the former president declared in an all-caps post on his Truth Social social media platform that he obtained “almost” $500m “through hard work, talent and luck.”
That “substantial amount” was intended for his presidential campaign, he said on Friday.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is preparing to seize Mr Trump’s assets if he is unable to come up with the $464m bond in his Manhattan fraud trial.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform, launched in the volatile aftermath of the January 6 attack, is headed for Wall Street as shareholders of his social media platform have voted to take the company public.
As speculation mounts around whether Florida Sen Marco Rubio could be Donald Trump’s pick for vice president, the duo’s history of internet-famous fights — that gave America unforgettable nicknames for the two politicians — has returned to the spotlight.
The Florida Senator suggested on Thursday that he and the former president had buried the hatchet, appearing open to the opportunity to serve as Mr Trump’s number two, should he be elected.
Kelly Rissman reports:
The Florida Senator recently indicated that he and the former president had recently made peace after a feud that began in 2015
On Sunday, ‘Don Poor-leone’ was trending on social media. Oliver O’Connell reports on what looks like a blue Monday for the former president
Despite promises that the Republican National Committee would not be paying Donald Trump’s long list of legal bills, the GOP’s chief fundraising arm appears ready to do just that.
An invitation to a fundraiser in Palm Beach, Florida next month shows that the Save America political action committee – largely serving as the bank for the former president’s legal team – will get a big chunk of the proceeds.
Alex Woodward reports:
A new fundraising venture diverts donations to a political action committee paying his legal bills
The former president wrote this afternoon:
Don’t Like the way FoxNews is reporting the Letitia James Election Interference Scam. They don’t want to discuss how ridiculous the Corrupt Judge’s fine of 450 Million Dollars is. It should be $ZERO. The only fraud was the valuation of Mar-a-Lago at $18,000,000 by the Crooked Judge in order to help his already fully debunked narrative. They should pay me damages for what they have done, and ultimately will. THESE ARE NOT THE PEOPLE THAT MADE AMERICA GREAT, THESE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT ARE DESTROYING AMERICA!
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump won Louisiana’s primary on Saturday, collecting more delegates after they already clinched their party nominations.
Biden also appeared in Missouri’s Democratic primary, with results not expected to be reported until next week.
None of the races were in suspense. Biden and Trump have already beaten their major competitors. But the primary races are still closely watched by insiders for turnout and signs of protest voters.
For Biden, some liberals are registering their anger with Israel’s war against Hamas following the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack. More than 30,000 people, two-thirds of them women and children, have been reported killed by Gaza authorities since Israel launched its offensive. A protest movement launched by Arab American communities in Michigan has spread to several other states.
Trump is his party’s dominant figure and has locked up a third straight Republican nomination. But he faces dissent from people worried about the immense legal jeopardy he faces or critical of his White House term, which ended shortly after the Jan. 6 insurrection mounted by his supporters and fueled by his false theories of election fraud.
Saturday’s primary was the Missouri Democratic Party’s first party-run presidential contest since a new law took effect in August 2022. Louisiana’s primaries, meanwhile, come almost four years after the state was the first to postpone its primaries due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
…but might it now fall into the hands of one of Trump’s staunch enemies?
Joe Sommerlad takes a look at the storied building:
It’s a place that’s played a major role in the history of the business tycoon-turned-president-turned accused felon’s life. Now it could fall into the hands of someone Donald Trump views as a staunch enemy. Joe Sommerlad reports
Today, Donald Trump called into Seb Gorka’s show and gave a long rambling interview that covered a wide range of topics.
The former president claimed that the US would cease to be a country if he doesn’t win the election:
That auto workers who don’t vote for him are “not the smartest people”:
That Democrats are going to steal the election (something he saved until the summer in the last two presidential elections):
And that: “Any Jewish person that voted for Democrats hates their religion, they hate everything about Israel, and they should be ashamed of themselves.”
With the Republican National Committee (RNC) nomination all but formally secured for Donald Trump, all eyes are on who the former president will choose as his running mate in pursuit of the White House.
Already, rumours are swirling about Mr Trump’s short list of potential options – nearly all of which are people who have backed Mr Trump and denounced the 2020 election results, despite widespread evidence that it was not stolen.
It is unclear when Mr Trump will announce his decision, but he revealed Mike Pence as his running mate in July 2016, before the RNC held its annual convention.
Here are the potential options:
Former president will likely announce his pick before the Republican National Convention this summer
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told CNN on Saturday that the move by defednats including Donald Trump to have her removed from their case over her relationship with prosecutor Nathan Wade won’t further delay or derail her massive 2020 election subversion racketeering case.
“I’m not embarrassed by anything I’ve done,” Ms Willis said. “My team’s been continuing to work … I don’t feel like we’ve been slowed down at all. I do think that there are efforts to slow down this train, but the train is coming.”
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Donald Trump, pictured on 9 March 2024. He is facing a bond payment deadline on Monday
REUTERS
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