Ex-Trump Official Says There’s ‘No Question’ Cash-Strapped Former President Would Take Money from Russian Oligarchs
Former White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah Griffin said she’s certain her former boss would accept money from U.S. adversaries if given the opportunity.
Former President Donald Trump is facing a Monday deadline to post a $454 million bond as a precondition for appealing a civil judgment against him in that amount. A New York court found him liable for defrauding banks and insurance companies by inflating the value of his assets. Trump has also been ordered to pay more than $80 million to E. Jean Carroll, whom he was found liable for sexually assaulting and defaming. Additionally, the former president faces mounting civil and criminal attorneys fees.
Lawyers for Trump told a New York appellate court on Monday that after contacting more than 30 underwriters, none said they could post such an immense bond. If he is unable to post, New York Attorney General Letitia James may begin seizing his assets.
Appearing on Thursday’s installment of The Source on CNN, Griffin was asked by guest host Sara Sidner, “How bad is this for him?”
“It’s incredibly bad,” the CNN commentator responded. “This is a total blow to the brand of Trump. Trump is as much a brand as he is a businessman. In some ways, even more so… But what I’m worried about is this – when Donald Trump is backed into a corner, he gets reckless and he makes reckless decisions.”
Griffin then floated the possibility that Trump will seek financial assistance from overseas.
“Where’s he going to turn? There’s a possibility he’s going to look to foreign– it could be adversaries, it could be individuals within nations at our adversaries to lend him money if he’s not able to secure loans here,” she said. “And I think that’s a very real possibility that folks need to be thinking about in the broader context of this.”
“That’s a really big point that you just said there,” Sidner said, “because if you look at who he’s bringing back into the fold, trying to bring in people like Paul Manafort, who had millions of dollars that were stored in foreign accounts all over the place. Do you really think that that Donald Trump being pushed to a financial point would reach out to a China or a Russia?”
Griffin replied:
Donald Trump does not have a moral compass when it comes to America’s standing in the world, how we interact with our adversaries. And he certainly puts his interests before the country. So, if an oligarch in a Russia, or a Chinese business official wants to help him get this money, I have no question that he would end up accepting it.
Her comments echoed those of former CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who earlier this month said of Trump’s financing choices, “Foreign is his only option.”
Watch above via CNN.
