'That's not the actual amount': Trump's lawyers scramble to explain $500M boast
Former President Donald Trump's lawyers are scrambling to explain away his $500 million boast, posted to Truth Social Friday morning, after they said in court filings their client couldn't come up with that kind of cash, according to a new report.
Trump's attorneys told CNN reporter Kara Scannell Friday morning that Trump's all-caps claim that he currently has almost $500 million in cash — more than the $464 million he's been ordered to pay in his New York City civil fraud trial — wasn't exactly right.
"His lawyers clarified that statement to me this morning, saying Trump was referring to the cash he has made through running his business, which he has disclosed on his campaign forms," Scannell told host Jim Acosta. "But that's not the actual amount of cash that he currently has on hand."
Trump's contradictory statement arrived just three days before the payment comes due and as New York Attorney General Letitia James readies her team to begin seizing the former president's eponymous golf course and Westchester estate Seven Springs.
While Trump's lawyers have pleaded for a stay in the ruling as they pursue an appeal, James' office argues there's no case for the former president to skirt the law.
That appeals court ruling is pending, and as Acosta noted to Scannell, "the sand is going through the hourglass."
ALSO READ: A criminologist explains why half of America does not care about Trump's crimes
Acosta then turned to Trump's former White House lawyer, and CNN commentator, Jim Schultz for his take on Trump's financial standing ahead of the looming deadline.
"Trump has repeatedly said that his paying this half-billion-dollar bond would be impossible, but he just posted that he has raised nearly $500 million," Acosta said. "Which is it?"
Schultz said he'd trust the lawyers over the former president.
"His lawyers were making the argument that he doesn't, right?" said Schultz. "So I think that's the representation that I would probably trust the most as it relates to what he has and what he doesn't have."
Schultz then urged Trump to seriously consider filing for bankruptcy, which he argued was the former president's best option from a legal perspective, if not a political one.
"If he were to file bankruptcy, a lot of this would be stayed," said Schultz. "But that might not look so good during a presidential campaign."