As Christians around the world prepare to commemorate the passion of Christ this Holy Week, Donald Trump will begin his way of the cross a little ahead of the other faithful.
The day of Monday March 25 promises to be decisive for him on the legal level, due to the coincidence of two procedures in which the former American president finds himself in a bad position.
The first of these looks more like a formality: the Republican candidate for the next presidential election is summoned to New York for a hearing aimed at setting a new date for his criminal trial in the Stormy Daniels affair, named after a pornographic actress that Donald Trump is suspected of having paid illicitly (by disguising the accounts of the Trump Organization) so that she would keep quiet about an adulterous relationship that they allegedly had in the past.
A document revealed by the New York judges seems to indicate that the court is preparing to postpone this trial, historic in its unprecedented nature, for at least a month: it is the first time that a former American president has been criminally prosecuted. .
Indeed, the Supreme Court of the United States must decide, on April 25, on the scope of presidential immunity, to find out whether it is likely to protect Donald Trump from possible conviction in this trial.
New York justice seems determined to wait for the Supreme Court's decision to begin the trial, giving rise to the arguments of Donald Trump's lawyers, who are increasing the number of procedures in order to postpone the judgment.
The candidate keeps repeating that the race for the White House should not be hampered by legal twists and turns that he attributes to the subservience of judges to the Democratic camp.
Half a billion dollars
The second decision paradoxically seems even more serious for the former President of the United States, even though this time it is no longer a question of a possible prison sentence like what he faces in the Stormy Daniels affair.
The Republican candidate is in fact under pressure of seizure of his assets if he does not give the justice system of the State of New York the guarantee that he will pay nearly half a billion dollars in reparations, to which he was convicted in civil court in February.
At the end of prosecutions initiated in 2022 by Attorney General Letitia James, Donald Trump and his sons Eric and Donald Jr. were sentenced by Judge Arthur Engoron to $464 million in fines and interest for fraud, in particular for having lied in the 2010s about the value of the assets of their Trump Organization real estate empire, in order to obtain bank loans.
But how can such guarantees be provided?
Fortunately for Donald Trump, a financial windfall could come from his company Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which will merge with a vehicle listed on the stock exchange, after a favorable vote on Friday at a general meeting.
This entry into the market should offer a breath of fresh air to the 77-year-old businessman and political tribune, whose financial situation is precarious.
Also read: Donald Trump's media company will go public, billions in prospect for him
What would happen on Monday if the billionaire did not provide legal bail?
“A humiliation” and a “huge problem”, summarize Carl Tobias, professor of law at the University of Richmond, and former prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, speaking to AFP.
For Carl Tobias, if Donald Trump exhausts his appeals, “he could sell his real estate or (...) try to obtain a bank loan or even declare personal bankruptcy.”
Prosecutor James could also “try to seize the money he holds in New York and some of his real estate,” such as the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue and a building on Wall Street.
The tabloid New York Post thought Thursday that Donald Trump would “let” Letitia James seize Trump Tower or her golf course in upscale Westchester County north of the city.