WASHINGTON — Donald Trump is in a huge bind. He can’t scrounge up enough cash to post a bond in his New York civil fraud case, where he faces a penalty of more than $454 million.
And in even more bad news for the former president, some of the wealthiest people in the country — members of an elite club known as the United States Senate — aren’t coming to his rescue.
Multiple Republican senators on Wednesday laughed off the suggestion they contribute to Trump’s accounts so he could post a bond in the case, which they roundly criticized as unfair.
“I’ve got about $12,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of Trump’s closest allies on Capitol Hill, chuckled when asked by HuffPost if he’d be willing to open up his wallet.
“I’m optimistic he’ll figure it out. He’s a pretty resourceful guy,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said. Scott, whose net worth is in the hundreds of millions, is one of the wealthiest senators and one of the few who could meaningfully contribute to Trump’s cause.
Trump was convicted of civil fraud last month for falsifying Trump Organization business records for decades. He was ordered by a New York judge to pay $355 million — the amount gained from the fraud plus interest. But the self-described billionaire has failed to convince 30 insurance companies to secure a bond needed to appeal the case, and now he’s facing the possibility that state authorities seize his properties in New York to cover the bill instead.
Trump raged about the decision in a post on his Truth Social website on Thursday and said it is “not possible” for bonding companies to secure the funds before this week’s deadline.
“That is CRAZY! If I sold assets, and then won the Appeal, the assets would be forever gone,” Trump wrote. “Also, putting up money before an Appeal is VERY EXPENSIVE. When I win the Appeal, all of that money is gone, and I would have done nothing wrong.”
The presumptive GOP presidential nominee is fundraising for his 2024 campaign in response to the threat of losing his real estate properties and sent out a memo titled “Keep your filthy hands off Trump Tower!” to supporters on Thursday.
Some commentators on the right have even urged wealthy GOP donors to step in and help bail Trump out.
“Why are there no Republican multi-billionaires offering to lend President Trump the funds to file his appeal in the outrageous case in NY state?” Fox News pundit Mark Levin asked this week on X, formerly Twitter. “Are none of them liquid enough to help or join with others to help? This is an outrage.”
No billionaire GOP donors have publicly committed to fighting Trump’s legal woes yet, and though some Republicans have suggested the cash-strapped Republican National Committee should help pay Trump’s legal bills, no GOP lawmakers have personally stepped up to give funds.
“This job has been a very expensive hobby. I’m afraid I’m not very liquid myself,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said Wednesday.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), meanwhile, seemed taken aback by the mere notion of senators personally contributing to the man they’ve backed for president, laughing repeatedly before walking into a Senate elevator.
“Are you trolling?” he asked HuffPost without answering the question.
And Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who owns a private plane he sometimes uses to fly to work, said, “I’ve contributed enough to this whole process,” when asked if he’d be willing to give to Trump, suggesting he crowdfund for his legal defense instead.
“I have no problem in him going to the public and saying, ‘I’m doing this for the country, and I’m being attacked for it unfairly.’ I have no problem in him trying to do that,” Johnson said.
Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), who is wealthy enough to spend $11 million of his own money winning his Senate seat in the first place, said he wasn’t approached to give to the former president but that he couldn’t even if he was asked.
“I’m very illiquid,” he told HuffPost.
A few Trump-supporting Republicans did say they would be willing to chip in a few dollars, but they noted, accurately, that Trump would need far more to post a bond totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
“I could throw in a couple of bucks in it,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said before adding, “I mean, it’s like spitting in the ocean.”
And Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said that “it’d be my honor” to contribute if Trump called him and asked for financial support. “I mean, it would take a lot of couple of bucks,” he said.
Democrats were similarly amused when asked if they would be willing to help Trump come up with enough money to post a bond. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) smiled and quipped that he couldn’t afford it.
“I am not that wealthy,” Schumer told HuffPost.
But one Democratic senator appeared to be game for contributing to Trump’s cause — at least on the margins.
Taking out a wad of cash from his pocket after walking out of the Senate chamber on Thursday, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the second wealthiest member of the Senate, handed HuffPost two single-dollar bills and warned, “Don’t spend it all at once.”
HuffPost reached out to the Trump campaign to see if they’d be willing to accept the senator’s generous donation. We’ll update this story if we hear back.