Turley Reveals Why James Can’t Seize Trump’s Asset

Fox News Legal Analyst and George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley believes Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James might be unable to seize former president Donald Trump’s assets if he fails to post the $454 million bond.

The former president has until Monday, March 25, to pay the bond or face the prospect of James seizing some of his assets. With Trump struggling to get insurance companies to loan him the funds, Jams filed judgments against Trump and others in Westchester County, New York, where Trump owns a private estate in Seven Springs and the Trump National Golf Club Westchester, on Friday.

Turley, however, believes James might find it difficult to seize Trump’s assets. Turley, while speaking on Fox News, revealed that James will have several obstacles, including legal challenges from Trump’s business partners, to navigate before she can seize the former president’s assets.

If Letitia James starts seizing Trump’s properties, it will validate Trump’s claims of being targeted – and win him the 2024 election. pic.twitter.com/GSf9wOww62

/div>

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) March 24, 2024

“These properties are partnerships, they have leveraged debt. All of that has to be unraveled,” Turley told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow. “So these aren’t just this, you know, one to one Trump versus James type of equation. So in order to seize that property, she’s going to be pulled into court, there’s going to be challenges. It’s not going to happen overnight. Everyone is celebrating this idea that she’s going to padlock Trump Tower. It’s not likely to happen, and it’s certainly not likely to remain very long. The other thing is that she could be harming the value of the property that she’s trying to seize with some of these actions.I don’t think that matters to her, but it might matter to a court.”

Turley added that there are other constitutional issues to be considered before James can seize the president’s assets.

“There is an issue here of the Eighth Amendment. There’s also an issue of due process. In addition to that line of cases, which is rather thin, so this is going to be new ground for the courts to deal with, so this is sort of unsettled. But there’s also the due process question. The court – the Supreme Court has on rare occasions stepped into state cases and said this is such a sort of over-the-top damage figure that it violates due process. New York is unique, I think, in this case, because they have made even the bond confiscatory, so, it’s not just the damages, but the bond rule that seem to be punitive and it’s certainly the use by James and this judge. So those are going to be viable challenges, and it could go all the way to the Supreme Court.”

The 8th Amendment was designed to protect against excessive fines or bail imposed to achieve unjust ends. Letitia James’ crusade against Trump fits that to a tee. She should be disbarred. pic.twitter.com/EaB7W9YcZ7

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) March 21, 2024