Financial journalist Bill Cohan recently made a prediction regarding Donald Trump’s financial predicament, suggesting that Trump may resort to declaring bankruptcy if he fails to produce the required $464 million bond due on Monday.
Speaking on The Powers That Be: Daily podcast with Puck’s Peter Hamby, Hamby questioned the likelihood of such a scenario given Trump’s public image of wealth and success. Cohan responded, indicating that bankruptcy might be Trump’s only viable option if the court of appeals does not intervene to reduce the bond or extend the deadline.
Cohan elaborated on the potential course of action, highlighting bankruptcy as a means for Trump to delay the judgment, asset sales, and gain additional time. He explained that entering bankruptcy court could afford Trump a reprieve, possibly lasting a year or two, allowing for a more controlled process of asset liquidation and debt settlement.
Acknowledging the inevitability of asset loss and judgment payment, Cohan suggested that bankruptcy would provide a structured framework for the resolution of Trump’s financial obligations, albeit over an extended period.
Trump’s legal team recently admitted their inability to secure the necessary bond, terming it a “practical impossibility.” Despite this, Trump asserted on Truth Social that he possessed $500 million in cash, a significant portion of which he intended to allocate to his presidential campaign. The outcome of this financial ordeal for the former president remains uncertain as the deadline approaches on Monday.
So, if that happens, OK, that’s one way. If that doesn’t happen, then he’s out of luck, and he’s going to have to file for personal bankruptcy because that way, he can stay the judgment, stay any asset sales, buy himself a whole lot of time. You know this thing going into bankruptcy court would definitely buy him time. Maybe a year, maybe two years, it’s like a freefall bankruptcy. Who knows what kind of mess he’s got there?
And you know he could — and you know state of New York becomes a general and secured creditor of the Trump Organization or Donald trump personally, whatever ends up being the debtor here. And who knows where they would fall or what kind of recovery they would get? That’s probably his best way to reducing the size of the judgment. It’s his best way of having like an orderly sale of his assets. You know, he will lose them. He will lose the assets, absolutely. He’ll have to pay the judgment. But it would all be done in a much more timely, slower, more orderly way than in the next five days.
Trump’s lawyers admitted in a court filing last week that he could not secure the bond for his civil fraud judgment, calling it a “practical impossibility.” But Trump, in a Truth Social post, declared he had $500 million in cash, “A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF WHICH I INTENDED TO USE IN MY CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT.” It remains to be seen which way things will go for the former president on Monday.
