Trump Might Be Too Broke for a $175 Million Bond, Too
But Levinson presumes a degree of rationality in Trump that may not exist. Trump may or may not have $175 million in securities above and beyond the $91 million in a Schwab brokerage account that he reportedly used to collateralize a bond backed by Chubb in the E. Jean Carroll case. We know Trump has a lot of equity in Truth Social, which he just took public, but he’s barred for six months from using that as collateral. And even if Trump possesses additional liquid investments, he’ll be reluctant to put them up as collateral for the same reason that surety firms prefer collateral in the form of cash and securities to collateral in the form of real estate: It’s much easier to grab in the event that Trump loses his appeal. Which, let’s face it, is likelier than not.
What surety firm would step forward to cover a $175 million bond for Trump? Levinson told me he thinks it will be Chubb. We know (from Trump’s legal team) that Chubb tried very hard to put together a deal on the $454 million, finally giving up because the deal depended on using real estate as collateral. But we also know that Chubb caught a lot of flak for underwriting Trump’s $91 million Carroll bond, and that Chubb’s chief executive, Evan Greenberg, ended up writing a letter to investors and employees explaining why it would lend that much money to a man so very famous for stiffing his creditors. Greenberg’s rationale was not very clear, raising suspicions that he expects some unsavory return from a future President Trump. Does Greenberg want to invite even more inquiries into Chubb’s possible motives?
At the press conference, Trump seemed not to have given up on the idea that his real estate holdings could be used as collateral on the $175 million. “Most buildings, I have no debt,” Trump said. “Most clubs, I have no debt.” As with many things that Trump says, any relationship these assertions bear to the truth would be mere coincidence. Trump also went on about the value of his “brand,” even going so far as to assert that “I became president because of the brand.” Was Trump trying to suggest that the Oval Office might be leveraged to compensate whatever fool lends him $175 million? Possibly so. In the meantime, New York’s appeals court sets Trump up for possible humiliation three days after Easter. Robbed of his crown of thorns, Trump still may not come up with the cash. If that happens, he won’t be the Messiah. Just a deadbeat.