Trump's supporters are turning to GoFundMe to raise money for his mounting legal fines.Tess Crowley/EFE/ZUMA
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How will Trump pay his mounting legal bills?
It’s a fair question, considering that a New York judge ruled on Friday that he owes $355 million for inflating his net worth to banks and insurance companies, as my colleague Russ Choma reported. The total amount comes to more than $453 million with interest, according to NBC News. And that’s in addition to the more than $83 million another judge ruled he must pay the writer E. Jean Carroll for defamation after she claimed Trump raped her in the 1990’s in a downtown New York City department store. The New York Times reports that the latest sum “threatens to wipe out a stockpile of cash, stocks and bonds that he amassed since leaving the White House.” Trump has about $350 million in cash or assets and investments that could be converted to cash, and he may have to sell or mortgage a property to pay his bills.
His supporters have an idea: they’ll pay his bills themselves.
A Florida woman has started a GoFundMe to “stand with Trump” and “fund the $355 million unjust judgment” that, as of Sunday morning, has raised more than $250,000 from about 5,700 donors. That comes out to an average donation of approximately $44 per person.
“The recent legal battles he faces are not just an attack on him, but an attack on the very ideals of fairness and due process that every American deserves,” the creator, Elena Cardone, wrote on the GoFundMe. “It’s a moment that calls into question the balance of justice and the application of law, disproportionately aimed at silencing a voice that has been at the forefront of advocating for American strength, prosperity, and security.”
“In standing with Trump, we’re upholding the cause of every business owner and entrepreneur who believes in the fight against a system that increasingly seeks to penalize dissent and curb our freedoms,” added Cardone, who identifies herself on social media as a CEO, though it’s unclear what company she allegedly helms. She offers an hour-long one-on-one coaching session for $20,000 to “achieve your personal goals, build your empire, and take your life to the next level of success,”
according to her website.
Cardone didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from
Mother Jones—but she
told her local TV station, ABC affiliate WPLG of Miami, that she has “never been a political person with my viewpoint, but this ruling really rocked me to the core.” (The Federal Election Commission doesn’t list any individual contributions from her or her husband, a real estate investor.)
“When you can allow this to happen to one property owner, this can happen to everyone,” she told the local station. “I have no other choice but to stand up and represent property owners and business owners in America.”
“I’ve never shown up at a property where the homeowner didn’t think their house was worth more than it is—but now, according to this New York judge, for doing that, you can be considered to have committed fraud,” she added. Trump
said his Mar-a-Lago estate was valued at $1 billion—about $970 million
more than a Palm Beach county tax appraisal that found it was worth between $18 million and $27 million.
Many of the GoFundMe donors, unsurprisingly, appear to be staunch Trump supporters.
“Trump is a leader,” wrote someone named Hector Mercado, who donated $20. “The Democrats of today are blatant thieves and liars.”
“I am a senior citizen living on my well earned social security. Now in my 86th year, Donald Trump is the greatest president of my lifetime and of the nation’s lifetime,” wrote Rena Corey, who donated $10. “My token contribution is a salute to this modern day Teddy Roosevelt.”
But among their ranks, there was at least one saboteur. “I have donated $5 to put a comment of normalcy in between the insanity, so people know most people do not support this,” wrote Donna Bauer. “No one is above the law, not even this orange con man. It is obvious he is good at conning gullible people. It is sad that you all can’t see through this farce.”
WPLG reported that Cardone had been in touch with Trump’s team and that he would receive the funds. A GoFundMe representative told
Mother Jones that the fundraiser is “currently within our terms of service”—though the company’s rules
prohibit using fundraisers for “the legal defense of alleged financial and violent crimes.” A spokesperson for the Trump campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
