Mary Trump — former President Donald Trump‘s never-Trump niece and bete noire — contends that the most important aspect of her uncle’s failure to secure a $450+ million surety bond from more than 30 insurance companies he approached is that Trump’s outsized debt makes him an enormous national security risk.
[NOTE: Even Chubb, which issued Trump a $91 million collateralized surety bond in the E. Jean Carroll case, reportedly passed on the opportunity to provide Trump with a second lifeline — this time $450+ million.]
Trump’s trouble raising the bond money from legitimate sources opens the doors to unsavory lenders, his niece says, sparking fears of Russian oligarchs aligned with Vladimir Putin purchasing Trump like a Manchurian Candidate — or of Trump being “captured” in the way Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse says Clarence Thomas and the Supreme Court have been by big money interests.
(The fear is amplified by the reality that while $450 million is a hefty sum, it would not be prohibitive for cash-rich operators like the Saudis who seeded Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s foray into private equity.)
The former President — who is also, critically, the presumptive GOP nominee in the 2024 election — is already under indictment for his handling of classified documents and running afoul of the Espionage Act. He would be a coveted and vulnerable target for nefarious money seeking to gain influence over American politics, Mary Trump asserts, while imploring the media not to miss this angle of the story.
Many in the media are missing something big in the news about Donald’s failure to secure a bond.
It’s not just that Donald owes a vast sum of money and doesn’t seem to have enough cash to pay his debt.
It’s that he’s an even greater national security risk than he already was…
— Mary L Trump (@MaryLTrump) March 18, 2024
Mary Trump’s concerns that the media may miss the story is contradicted by Tim O’Brien’s recent column at Bloomberg, where the reporter says Trump’s financial turmoil “intensifies his threat to national security by making him an easy mark for overseas interests.” Whether the story gains considerable — and enduring — coverage remains to be seen.
Former Congresswoman Liz Cheney is also concerned about the impact of Trump’s money needs, pointing out that his takeover of the RNC — and its purse strings — coincides with a moment in time when he is particularly “desperate for money and can’t post bond,” as she writes.
“Donors better beware,” Cheney warns.
Is it just a coincidence that Donald Trump took over the RNC, fired most of its Republican staff, and installed his daughter-law as co-chair at the same time he’s become desperate for money and can’t post bond? Donors better beware. https://t.co/zocaErajy9
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) March 19, 2024
Cheney, of course, a leader on the January 6 Committee, counted Trump as an acute threat to national security long before his new debts arose through legal setbacks. For Cheney, Trump disqualified himself permanently with his actions on January 6, a firm stance that has hardly been softened by Trump’s recent salutes to the J6 “hostages” who he says he will pardon if re-elected.
Cheney’s pinned tweet is this:
The GOP has chosen. They will nominate a man who attempted to overturn an election and seize power. We have eight months to save our republic & ensure Donald Trump is never anywhere near the Oval Office again. Join me in the fight for our nation’s freedom. https://t.co/V4otPCFdY6
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) March 6, 2024