On Wednesday, former Republican President Donald Trump gave a bizarre series of responses when a reporter asked if he planned to use the same PACs he used to pay his legal bills to also pay his penalties.
A reported $50 million from Trump's PACs went toward his legal bills in 2023.
Following his meeting with the Teamsters Union leadership in Washington, D.C., a reporter asked:
"Are you thinking of potentially trying to use campaign funds to pay some of the penalties?"
A visibly confused Trump replied:
"What penalties?"
Just days prior, Trump was ordered by a jury to pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million after a previous trial found he sexually assaulted and defamed her. A penalty decision is also pending in his New York fraud case.
You can see the interaction here:
The reporter then clarified:
"In the New York fraud cause and the defamation case—"
Trump interjected:
"I didn’t do anything wrong."
"I mean, that’s been proven as far as I’m concerned."
Trump also claimed:
"And actually we won in the court of appeals. You probably saw that. That case has been largely won in the court of appeals."
Except the case was definitely not won.
Trump instead is awaiting a decision on his total penalties after Judge Engoran found that he committed fraud in New York state. The prosecution is seeking $370 million and a lifetime ban on Trump and two former company executives from New York's real estate industry.
On September 26, 2023, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled the Trump Organization engaged in “persistent and repeated fraud.” That decision has not been overturned in the court of appeals.
Trump went off on a delusional tangent about his years of documented and corroborated fraud in New York.
"That was a political case, coordinated with the White House by the Attorney General, I assume is what you're talking about."
Trump then repeated the lie about his victory.
"And we won that case, largely in the court of appeals."
When the reporter again asked about paying the Carroll penalties, Trump replied dismissively while waving his hands about:
"That's a ridiculous case."
The rest of Trump's comment was an unintelligible jumble of the words "that's" and "case."
While gaslighting and lying are Trump’s usual methods of responding to his losses, no one but his MAGA minions are buying the snake oil he's selling.
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In addition to awaiting the financial penalty decision for his fraud in the state of New York, Trump still has four criminal trials pending.
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