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Right-wing media complain about law and order when it’s applied to Trump

Some right-wing media claim New York’s attorney general is politically targeting Trump and he shouldn't have to pay the bond in his fraud case. But Fox itself reported that the AG “by law has no choice.”

Written by Audrey McCabe

Published

After former President Donald Trump was found liable for conspiring to manipulate his net worth to fraudulently make $350 million, right-wing media are insisting that the former president is being unfairly targeted. 

Right-wing media figures are casting the $464 million bond Trump must pay in order to appeal the decision as an unfair punishment meant to bankrupt the former president, as well as a violation of due process and his Eighth Amendment rights to freedom from excessive fines. 

Some are even calling for Trump’s allies and supporters to help him pay the bond after his lawyers told the court that 30 bond underwriters have declined to back the loan.

  • Trump must pay a $464 million bond to appeal the decision in his civil fraud case

    • Trump has been ordered to pay a $464 million bond in order to appeal his New York civil fraud case, which found him and his sons liable for fraud, conspiracy, and issuing false financial statements. Trump claims that he is unable to find an insurance company to underwrite the bond, which is due on Monday, March 25. If he is unable to secure the bond, New York Attorney General Letitia James is entitled to collect the $454 million awarded to the state in Judge Arthur Engoron’s decision. [CNN, 3/18/24; The New York Times, 3/19/24]
    • The ruling is the result of James’ sweeping lawsuit against Trump, enabled by a New York law used to penalize businesses that mislead consumers, investors, or regulators. NPR reported: “In New York, if you make money by persistently committing fraud, you owe the ill-gotten portion back to the state. In this case, Judge Engoron determined that Donald Trump made over $350 million more than he should have if he'd been honest and when you add in interest, you get to $454 million.” [NPR, 3/19/24; Media Matters, 10/5/23]
    • The size of the bond is not an arbitrary punitive sum. It was calculated according to the amount Trump earned from fraudulent activity. According to New York law, defendants in civil cases must “post a bond worth at least 110% of the judgment amount to delay paying the penalty as they appeal. Since Trump is on the hook for $454 million in the civil fraud lawsuit, his appeal bond is $464 million.” [Axios, 3/19/24]
    • Despite right-wing outrage, Fox’s own correspondent Eric Shawn admitted, “Lawyers we talked to say she [James] is acting appropriately” and “by law has no choice other than go after Trump’s assets to pay that penalty.” [Fox News, America's Newsroom, 3/20/24]

  • Right-wing media are claiming that the bond is politically motivated and part of a broader effort to target Trump

    • On The Sean Hannity Show, Fox News commentator Gregg Jarrett claimed that James is “simply fulfilling a campaign promise to get Trump, exercising this personal political vendetta that has no place in the law.” He also stated that Judge Engoron’s “intent was to ruin Trump financially and leaving him penniless.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 3/19/24]
    • Fox News host Brian Kilmeade compared Trump’s civil fraud case to the treatment of Russian opposition leader Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was imprisoned and later exiled. “He’s clearly being attacked. And I think it's a terrible precedent for rich people in America,” Kilmeade said. “Stay away from New York especially if you’re not a Democrat.” [Fox Business, Varney & Co., 3/19/24]
    • Fox News’ Kerri Kupec Urbahn: “What hope does the average person have” if New York “can abuse it [the law] against the former leader of the free world?”  According to Urbahn: “If New York can abuse the law in this way against Donald Trump, and use the law against him in a way the law has never ever been used against someone in the history of New York, and they can abuse it against the former leader of the free world — still a very powerful and wealthy man who has unlimited resources at his disposal — what hope does the average person have?” She added, “If you don’t have a free and fair justice system, which in New York right now we do not, you don’t have a free country.”  [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/20/24]
    • Former Trump adviser and Fox News contributor Kellyanne Conway stated, “This was a deliberate effort to take down President Trump. If you can’t beat him at the polls, if you can’t prosecute him other cases, then you try to bankrupt him.” She then claimed that James is “politically motivated, not legally motivated.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 3/19/24]
    • Fox News commentator and conservative law professor Jonathan Turley claimed that “many people look at this [the bond] as a type of almost mob justice.” He then claimed that James ran on “bagging Trump” and “is now pledging to seize his property just because he can't come up with this bond.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/19/24]
    • Legal analyst Phil Holloway said of the bond, “This is akin to telling a condemned prisoner ‘Yes, you can have your appeal but only after we carry out the execution.’ But then of course it’s too late.” He also suggested that Engoron purposefully imposed the bond as a way of “preventing him [Trump] from his appeal that he has as a matter of right.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/20/24]
    • Fox News host Greg Gutfeld: “Trump haters are bloodthirsty for his financial demise and they’ll stop at nothing to end him, even going after his own home.” Then, to audience cheers, he added, “But who knows maybe he won't need it when he moves to a new residence on Pennsylvania Avenue.” [Fox News, Gutfeld!, 3/19/24]

  • Right-wing media claim the bond is un-American and violates Trump’s due process and Eighth Amendment rights

    • The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway called the bond a “conscience-shocking denial of due process for the state’s political opponents.” [Twitter/X, 3/19/24]
    • The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board claimed that the bond “effectively denies him [Trump] due process.” The article, titled “Letitia James Turns the Screws on Trump,” also claims that “anyone who does business in New York ought to worry about how Ms. James could likewise twist the screws on them.” [The Wall Street Journal, 3/18/24]
    • The Wall Street Journal’s James Freeman claimed that Trump’s due process rights “are being trampled in the sense of it makes it almost impossible to appeal given this bond situation.” During an appearance on Fox News, Freeman also stated that the bond amount is “a made-up number” and that James is delivering “KGB-style justice.” [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 3/19/24]
    • YourVoice America’s Bill Mitchell posted on X, “This $464 million James judgment against Trump in NY clearly violates his 8th amendment rights as there were no victims and no one was harmed: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” [Twitter/X, 3/18/24]
    • Fox News contributor Leo Terrell stated, “The bail request is excessive. And I guarantee you one way or another if it's not stopped by the New York appellate court, the Supreme Court under the Eighth Amendment is going to find this excessive and Donald Trump is going to get justice.” He also claimed that James’ intention “is to deny the leading nominee, the Republican nominee, from running for office. It is not going to happen, but that's the mindset.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/19/24]
    • Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe claimed, “This has been called un-American, but what is important to point out as this is America now. This is the America that we live in. This is the norm, this kind of lawfare against political opponents.” “The judge knows that the task that he has put in front of Trump, this ruling, is impossible to meet,” she added.“The pain is the point.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 3/19/24]
    • Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton posted on X, “Banana Republic!  Absent a waiver from the court, Trump would have to find $1 billion in cash so he could appeal outrageous Engoran decision.” [Twitter/X, 3/18/24]

  • Right-wing media are urging Trump’s allies and supporters to help pay the bond

    • Right-wing radio host Mark Levin posted on X, “Why are there no Republican multi-billionaires offering to lend President Trump the funds to file his appeal in the outrageous case in NY state? Are none of them liquid enough to help or join with others to help? This is an outrage.” [Twitter/X, 3/18/24]
    • Fox Business’ Charlie Gasparino argued that Trump’s “friends aren’t stepping up,” and claimed that he’d personally asked multiple Wall Street titans if they would help Trump. “And they said no?” Host Neil Cavuto asked. “What’s their reason? Are they afraid they’re never going to see the money again?”Gasparino responded, “I just think that they don’t think they’re going to get their money back, as you say.” [Fox Business, Cavuto: Coast to Coast, 3/19/24]
    • On his radio show Levin said: “There are Republicans, conservatives with access to — if not outright control over — hundreds of billions of dollars. Are you going to leave Trump just hanging there? Seriously?” [Westwood One, The Mark Levin Show, 3/18/24]
    • Fox News host Laura Ingraham declared, “A friend texted me today and said, ‘Trump should crowdfund this fine.’” She claimed, “If, I think, it was like one million supporters each gave him $450, that would cover the fine.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 3/19/24]