On today's Morning Joe, Al Sharpton gloated over Donald Trump's financial travails, and the prospect that he could be forced to declare bankruptcy. "Couldn't happen to a nicer guy," exulted Sharpton. Whatever happened to Christian charity, Rev?
Meanwhile, Joe Scarborough expressed surprising skepticism about the civil fraud trial brought by elected Democrat New York Attorney General Letitia James that has put Trump in the unprecedented position of having to post a half-billion-dollar bond.
Scarborough noted:
1. James ran on a promise of going after Trump.
2. Her case relies on an arcane, little-used, law.
3. A billionaire friend of his said that he wouldn't be able to come up with a half-billion in cash on such short notice.
3. "What goes around comes around" -- Scarborough imagined the possibility of someone like Texas AG Ken Paxton putting Biden on the hook for half-a-billion after he leaves office.
SCARBOROUGH: Okay. Should he, should he have to sell properties and do all these other things just to reserve the right to go on appeal?
HAASS: Couple things. One is, it reinforces the sense that's central to his campaign, that he's a victim.
SCARBOROUGH: Is he, is he in this case?
HAASS: I think the idea that he is being asked to come up with such a large amount of cash in such a relatively small amount of time. I don't know about you, Joe, what's the percentage of your investments that are liquid, as opposed to long-term, private equity.
SCARBOROUGH: [Holds up coffee mug] This is the only thing I have to sell, this coffee mug now on sale for $15. By the way, I actually talked to a billionaire. I said, could you come up with this money? He goes, no!
HAASS: Of course not.
SCARBOROUGH: It doesn't matter how much money you have, you're, you're not going to be able to come up with $500 million cash for a bond.
Scarborough's worth $15? This from the guy who, together with wife Mika, reportedly makes something like $16 million per annum. But Haass agreed: "I think it's unrealistic to ask for that amount of cash in that small amount of time, yes."
Scarborough [semi]-joked that he only dared criticize the James prosecution because he wasn't in the same studio as Mika, who later joked it was questionable whether Joe would "get to come home."
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
3/21/24
6:19 am EDTAL SHARPTON: I think he would rather do anything than file bankruptcy, but it may be the only option he has. We are talking about Monday, three days away, and the state Attorney General, Tish James, has said, I'm coming after him. And he knows that's no joke.
And you have to remember, he has to deal with this, and pay for lawyers and other legal expense, in four criminal cases. This is not even one of the criminal cases.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Right.
SHARPTON: This is a civil case. So he has a lot he's got to do, because by the time he finishes arguing with the civil attorneys about try another entity to lend me money, he's got four different legal teams calling him saying, "And we need some more money for this court papers that we have to file. We need some more money."
SCARBOROUGH: Right.
SHARPTON: He's in a tough spot. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
SCARBOROUGH: Richard [Haass], let me go from one uncomfortable question about the [New York football] Giants to another uncomfortable question.
What to you say to some Trump supporters but also some legal observers that say that you had an attorney general who ran, saying, "If I run [sic, win?], I'm going after Donald Trump?" She's gone after Donald Trump.
The New York Times had an article saying that she's used an old law to go after him in this case. Now, he's not the first. She also went after Exxon and, and a couple of other entities. But because it's a bit unusual, there's some people, some legal scholars, that say, he's got a good chance on appeal to at least, either, if not have the decision overturned, to at least modify the penalties as being excessive. So, should he have to pay that entire bond, should he have to start selling properties?
I see you smirking.
RICHARD HAASS: I'm not smirking.
SCARBOROUGH: Okay. Should he, should he have to sell properties and do all these other things just to reserve the right to go on appeal?
HAASS: Couple things. One is, it reinforces the sense that's central to his campaign, that he's a victim.
SCARBOROUGH: Is he, is he in this case?
HAASS: I think the idea that he is being asked to come up with such a large amount of cash in such a relatively small amount of time. I don't know about you, Joe, what's the percentage of your investments that are liquid, as opposed to long-term, private equity.
SCARBOROUGH: [Holds up coffee mug] This is the only thing I have to sell, this coffee mug now on sale for $15. By the way, I actually talked to a billionaire. I said, could you come up with this money? He goes, no!
HAASS: Of course not.
SCARBOROUGH: It doesn't matter how much money you have, you're, you're not going to be able to come up with $500 million cash for a bond.
HAASS: Most people who are that wealthy are going to have their money, either like Trump --
SCARBOROUGH: It's going to be spread out.
HAASS: Or things that are locked up: private equity, hedge funds, whatever. They're not, they're basically not keeping it in their JP Morgan banking, you know, checking account. It's not necessarily in stocks. So, yeah, I think it's unrealistic to ask for that amount of cash in that small amount of time, yes.
SCARBOROUGH: Another way to ask it, would you be comfortable if, let's say, Joe Biden, former President Joe Biden was, was sued in Texas by the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, after he got out of the White House, put in a position to have to come up with $500 million in bond money?
HAASS: So let me make a -- the answer is two things. One, I am slightly uncomfortable at all these state things. They make up a larger --
SCARBOROUGH: I'm really uncomfortable about the state things. Mika's not going to talk to me. I could nnever say this when I'm, like, in the same studio with Mika, because she won't talk to me for a week. But I'm very uncomfortable with the state cases, because what comes around goes around.
. . .
Mika, I've been saying this, especially in the federal cases, he appears to be above the law. Again, I do have some question about the state cases, but I'm sure at the end of the day, I'll defer to you, honey.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: If you even, you know, get to come home, but that's okay.
SCARBOROUGH: Ooh, wow. That is --
MIKA: This has been fun.
SCARBOROUGH: She does not like talking about the state cases.
HAASS: That's cold.
SCARBOROUGH: That is cold. I'm a little -- ooh, ooh.
MIKA: I mean, you put it out there.
