Trump sees lower bond as option to invest in campaign as Biden trolls him on fundraising

Donald Trump got a major financial reprieve Monday, one he said may allow him to invest money into his 2024 presidential campaign.

A New York state appeals court ruling lowered the bond amount — to $175 million — necessary for his appeal of a massive disgorgement penalty in a civil fraud verdict against the Trump and the Trump Organization. The initial sum, for which Trump faced a Monday deadline, was $454 million.

Trump said Monday that the reduction gives him the "option" to direct money into political operations, and would not require him to consider selling some of his prized real estate holdings.

"I might do that. I have the option," Trump said of spending larger sums on his White House campaign. "But if I have to spend $500 million on a bond I wouldn't have that option. I'd have to start selling things."

Following his comments, the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign issued a statement saying Trump had "spent the weekend golfing, the morning comparing himself to Jesus, and the afternoon lying about having money he definitely doesn’t have."

And the anti-Trump Lincoln Project distributed a parody video the organization dubbed "Phantom of the MAGA."

Trump may face another trial next month in New York

Trump spoke outside a Manhattan courtroom after a hearing on a different legal matter, the felony charges against him stemming from a purported hush money payment to a porn star before the 2016 presidential election. The judge in that case set a trial date for next month.

In his remarks, Trump again asserted that he "built a phenomenal company" with low debt and "a lot cash flow." His South Florida holdings include the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, golf clubs in West Palm Beach and Jupiter and a golf resort and spa in Miami-Dade County.

Florida is also the home to his social media company, which completed a merger on Friday. Trump said Monday that New York Stock Exchange officials want to list Trump Media & Technology Group, but Trump said he is refusing their offer because of the way he said he is being treated by judges and prosecutors in his former home state.

But the company with which Trump Media just merged with, Digital World Acquisition Corp., trades on the Nasdaq exchange in New York, too.

Biden campaign has been trolling Trump over February fundraising totals

The bond deadline came as Trump, who has built much of his political movement by touting his financial acumen and wherewithal, has been getting trolled by President Joe Biden.

In a statement last week, the Biden-Harris campaign noted the $20 million Trump reportedly raised in February was less than half the $53 million the president's own re-election effort netted last month, including $10 million in a 24-hour period after Biden's State of the Union Address. And they said Trump had less than $42 million in cash, while they had access to $155 million.

"His extreme, toxic agenda of banning abortion, slashing Social Security, and promoting political violence is repelling donors and doing exactly nothing to earn support from the voters who will decide this election," Biden-Harris 2024 Communications Director Michael Tyler said in a statement. "When he’s not hiding out in Mar-a-Lago, he’s calling into white supremacist radio to traffic in antisemitic tropes or saying there’ll be a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses. Even if he had the money, it’s not a message the voters would buy.”

Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [email protected]. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump bond reduced in civil fraud case, Biden trolls him on fundraising