Former President Donald J. Trump, with a deadline fast approaching to secure a nearly half-billion-dollar bond in his New York political fraud case or risk having his assets and iconic assets seized, sent an email Saturday morning to campaign supporters of .
The subject line — “Keep your dirty hands off Trump Tower” — was repeated at the beginning of the email in bold, italics and all caps, even though the message was clearly intended not for his supporters, but for the attorney general of New York, Letitia James. , who brought the case.
Mr Trump told supporters that Ms James “wants to SEIZE my properties in New York”, adding: “THIS INCLUDES THE VICTORY TRUMP TOWER!”. He then urged them to donate money to his presidential campaign as a show of strength against the web of legal trouble he faces, which he has broadly characterized as a political witch hunt.
With the deadline for Mr. Trump to file an appeal bond ending on Monday, the Trump campaign has sent out at least 10 similar fundraising solicitations since Wednesday accusing Ms. James and Democrats of trying to seize Mr. Trump’s estate. Trump, Trump Tower.
Last month, a New York judge fined Mr. Trump $454 million in the civil fraud case after concluding that the former president had fraudulently inflated the value of his company’s properties and his net worth to receive favorable loans and other benefits from banks.
Mr. Trump appealed the ruling and was given until Monday to either write a check to the state court system for the full amount or obtain an appeal bond. But his lawyers said last week that he was unable to secure the bond, raising the prospect that Ms. James could move to collect the money and try to foreclose on some of the properties involved in the case.
Ms. James, a Democrat, has said she is ready to do so, and Mr. Trump’s campaign has made that controversy a centerpiece of her fundraising emails. On Wednesday, in an email with the subject line “Hands off Trump Tower!”, Mr Trump accused her of trying to “go after the Virtual Trump Tower”.
In another email, Mr Trump claimed “maniacs” were trying to grab the property.
Trump Tower, located on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, is central to Mr. Trump’s celebrity and political rise. In 2015, he descended an escalator into the building to announce his first run for president.
In an email sent on Friday, Mr. Trump emphasized that central position. “Our movement started on the golden escalator at Trump Tower!” he wrote in capitals. “Now the Democrats want to seize it!” In another message on Thursday, he insisted that “Trump Tower is mine!” and accused Ms. James of being a “rabid Democrat who hates Trump.”
Mr. Trump suggested repeatedly in emails Last week, as he often does on the campaign trail, that President Biden had orchestrated Ms. James’ lawsuit, a baseless claim for which there is no evidence.
Mr. Trump has seen his legal problems, including four criminal cases and civil suits, as political fundraising opportunities, using them to tap into his loyal donor base. Last year, after his indictment photo was released in Georgia, Mr. Trump raised $4.2 million online.
But last week’s Trump-Tower-centric fundraising spree comes as the Trump campaign stares at a large cash gap with the Biden campaign. Mr. Biden and his joint ventures with the Democratic Party reported having $155 million in cash at the end of February. Trump’s campaign said it had $42 million in its accounts, while the Republican National Committee reported another $11.3 million.
Last year, committees supporting Mr. Trump spent at least $50 million on legal fees, according to the filings. And in February, the political action committee he used to pay his legal fees spent nearly $5.6 million on bills to the legal groups defending him in court.
These fees are likely to continue to rise. Mr Trump also has a crucial hearing on Monday in his criminal case in Manhattan, in which he is accused of covering up a sex scandal involving a porn star during his 2016 campaign.
That trial was originally scheduled to begin Monday, which would have made it the first of the former president’s four criminal cases to go to trial. But it was delayed after more than 100,000 pages of files were revealed.
Monday’s hearing is being held to decide whether the trial should be delayed further and to rule on Mr. Trump’s motion to dismiss the case based on the new documents.
