As New York Attorney General Letitia James plans the seizure of former President Donald Trump’s assets if he fails to pay the $464 million bond in his New York civil fraud case, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) blasted her efforts as an unprecedented political lawfare.
Chip Roy Blasts NY AG Letitia James For Trying To Seize Trump Assets: ‘Lawfare’, ‘Targeting’ https://t.co/xBMVKZoqNq pic.twitter.com/jAgggA0y5D
— Daily Wire News (@DailyWireNews) March 24, 2024
Speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper during an interview on “State of the Union,” Roy said, “Obviously, I believe in the rule of law. And, obviously, I believe that you have got to follow that where it leads. However, here’s the problem. This lawfare, if you want to use that framing and phraseology, this targeting of the former president, whether you’re talking about impeachment, which was done, whether you’re talking about all of these cases, there’s multiple cases, all of that is having an inverse effect, right?”
“The average hardworking American is out there are saying, what are you doing? All of this politics is going on,” he went further, adding, “Look, when you play these lawfare games, then you’re going to win stupid prizes. And the fact is, right now, the former president is gaining in popularity against a feeble current president destroying our country, attacking Israel, undermining our country with open borders.”
The lawmaker went on to point to Trump’s increased popularity even amid the witchhunt.
“I think we’re seeing the product of that in real-time. And what we need to right now is to focus on the issues the American people care about, secure the border, stop spending money we don’t have,” he said.
Roy’s remarks come as James is set to move on seizing Trump’s assets to cover the bond on Monday. According to Yahoo News, her first step would likely be a levy on banks where Trump and his company hold accounts. While she might not recover the full bond this way, she might choose to go after real estate owned by Trump’s company using his testimony at trial that he had $400 million in cash.
If she decides to go down that route, recovering the bond could take a while, as she would have to sell the properties seized to convert them into cash for the bond.
Trump, on his end, has said he has cash to cover the bond, in a post where he revealed he had nearly $500 million in cash, money intended for his 2024 presidential campaign.
“Through hard work, talent, and luck, I currently have almost five hundred million dollars in cash, a substantial amount of which I intended to use in my campaign for president. I did nothing wrong except win an election in 2016 that I wasn’t expected to win, did even better in 2020, and now lead, by a lot, in 2024. This is communism in America,” he said on Friday.