Trump $175m bond lifeline branded an ‘absolute travesty’ as Truth Social hits Wall Street today: Latest

Trump World never sleeps and, today, his Truth Social platform will begin trading on the Nasdaq exchange as a public company, with the former president tipped to make a cool and timely $3.5bn from the venture if he sells his 78m shares at the first opportunity in six months time, all being well.

Here’s a little reaction to yesterday’s move by the five-judge panel on the New York appeals court to delay and discount Trump’s bond deadline.

Letitia James was defiant in the face of disappointment.

Former New York assistant attorney general Tristan Snell called it an “absolute travesty” and an “absolute gross miscarriage of justice” on MSNBC while ex-Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele said the decision made “absolutely no sense”.

But Trump lawyer Alina Habba was jubilant.

For Trump ally Steve Bannon, it was proof that conventional “lawfare” simply does not work against the 45th president.

After emerging from Judge Merchan’s courtroom, Trump spoke briefly to reporters.

He then held a rambling press conference at his nearby 40 Wall Street property – which could yet be seized by New York attorney general Letitia James – a gathering that was laced with blunders and “contentious” statements, a selection of which you can see for yourself below.

“You can’t have an election in the middle of a political season,” he declares, before pledging to “bring crime back to law and order”.

Here’s Mike Bedigan’s round-up, starting with Trump’s confusion over who precisely is New York’s current governor.

The other big news from Monday saw Judge Juan Merchan, presiding over his hush money in trial in Manhattan hold a pre-trial hearing to consider the impact on the already-delayed proceedings of a huge 100,000-strong dump of fresh documents potentially relevant to the case.

In less positive news for the candidate, Judge Merchan elected to press ahead with jury selection on Monday 15 April.

Trump was there to hear that one in person, as was our own Alex Woodward who submitted this report.

If you’re just joining us, here’s a recap of yesterday’s two major developments from another wild one in Trump World.

First up, a New York appeals court has granted the Republican presidential candidate a 10-day extension to secure a portion of the $464m bond he has been ordered to post, after the former president signalled he was struggling to come up with the money.

The five-judge court panel said that the former president could have more than a week to secure just $175m while he awaits a ruling in his appeal of the judgement made by Justice Arthur Engoron in the civil fraud case.

The ruling is a win for Trump who initially had until Monday to come up with the means to post the $464m bond to prevent New York attorney general Letitia James from seizing his properties.

Though businessman often boasts about his net worth, he seemed to be struggling to find a way to post the bond.

Justice Engoron imposed a $454m penalty on Trump, his adult sons and former executives of the Trump Organization after finding them liable for conspiring to inflate his net worth to obtain favourable terms from insurers and banks on his properties.

Ariana Baio has the full story.

Trump Media & Technology Group, whose flagship product is social networking site Truth Social, will begin trading on the Nasdaq stock market on Tuesday.

Shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded shell company, approved a deal to merge with the Trump’s media business in a Friday vote.

The common stock of Trump Media & Technology Group will trade under the ticker symbol “DJT.”

Former president Donald Trump is set to own most of the combined company — or nearly 79 million shares. Multiply that by Digital World’s closing stock price Friday of $36.94, and the total value of his stake could be nearly $3 billion.

In an interview with Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, the former president said he had watched images of bombs being dropped on residential buildings in Gaza every night, calling it a “big mistake”.

“You have to finish up your war … You gotta get it done. And I am sure you will do that. And we gotta get to peace, we can’t have this going on. And I will say, Israel has to be very careful, because you’re losing a lot of the world, you’re losing a lot of support,” he told the newspaper.

The former president has refrained from issuing running commentary on the war since the Hamas attacks of 7 October and the subsequent Israeli response. The comments represent his most forceful intervention yet on the matter ahead of an expected United Nations Security Council vote later today that is expected to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.

Ms James first brought her civil case against the Trump Organization in September 2022, suing Donald Trump, his three oldest children Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump (who was later excluded), former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, former controller Jeffrey McConney and ten related companies alleging that they had engaged in financial fraud by habitually misrepresenting their property values to potential lenders and tax officials for monetary gain.

Judge Engoron duly presided over an 11-week jury trial between October and December after which the defendants were found liable for fraud and ordered to disgorge their ill-gotten gains.

The judge issued a 92-page ruling on 16 February siding with Ms James in which he found that the “defendants failed to accept responsibility or to impose internal controls to prevent future recurrences” and accused them of having “submitted blatantly false financial data” so as to “borrow more and at lower rates”.

In addition to ordering the massive repayment, he barred Mr Trump from running a business in New York for three years and his sons for two years.

The hush money trial, which was initially set to begin with jury selection on 25 March, will mark the first of four criminal trials against him, and the first-ever criminal trial against any current or former American president.

Mr Trump arrived for yet another pretrial hearing in the case inside a 15th floor courtroom in Manhattan on Monday as his attorneys prepared to argue allegations of misconduct from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in front of New York Justice Juan Merchan.

The judge rejected the accusations and set a trial date for Monday, 15 April. Jury selection will begin that week.

Mr Trump’s attorneys signalled they planned to file a motion to appeal the schedule.

“That’s fine,” Judge Merchan said. “See you all on the 15th.”

Alex Woodward has the full story…