CNN’s Jake Tapper Chuckles At Trump Lawyer Alina Habba Response To $460M Question: ‘Not An Answer!’
CNN anchor Jake Tapper couldn’t suppress a chuckle at Trump lawyer Alina Habba’s answer to a bombshell question from Fox News: is former President Donald Trump trying to get help from foreign countries to pay his massive fraud bond?
There has been a lot of wild speculation about how Trump will pay the bond to appeal payment of the fraud judgment that could cost him in excess of $460 million if appeals are unsuccessful. The deadline for that bond, if the appeals court doesn’t intervene, is Monday.
Habba added to that speculation on Wednesday’s edition of Fox News Channel’s The Story with Martha MacCallum when MacCallum asked “Is there any effort on the part of your team to secure this money through another country, Saudi Arabia or Russia” — and her response was something other than “Nope!”
On Thursday’s edition of CNN’s The Lead, Tapper and his guests reacted to Habba’s answer by noting, between laughs, that the speculation is “not wild” given the facts and Habba’s response:
TAPPER: Paul Begala, New York Attorney General Letitia James has taken the initial step to begin to the process of seizing Trumps assets. She can officially start the process in four days if Trumps unable to post this massive bond, but as trial lawyer Kevin O’Brien told “Forbes”, Letitia James is, quote, not going to take a stake and drive a sign through the front yard that says this building has been seized. It’s a legal process. It’s not like she’s going to be selling these properties next week.
But what options does Trump really have at this point?
PAUL BEGALA: Well, when he says he’s ruling out bankruptcy, that means he’s going to file for bankruptcy any minute now, right? No. Because Trump lies like I breathe. He inhales oxygen, exhales lies.
His companies and he’s never declared personal bankruptcy. He wouldn’t have to here. His companies have declared bankruptcy at his orders four times before. So I wouldn’t rule it out.
But I think the — as a citizen, the thing that’s most frightening is there seems to be no legal bar to him taking this money from hostile foreign powers, from maybe some billionaire in China, billionaire in Saudi Arabia, billionaire in Russia. This would compromise our national security if he were to be returned to the White House, and he’s a 50-50 shot to return.
So, I mean, I think that for all citizens is the thing that really terrify us is that Mr. Trump could very well be beholden to whoever puts up this bond.
TAPPER: So, Alex, first of all, welcome to THE LEAD. Good to have you here.
So, Paul is not the first one to suggest this. Joy Behar also made a similar suggestion, expressing concern that some — some lender or donor is going to give Trump the money and that will jeopardize national security.
So, yesterday, Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, was asked about this on Fox. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTHA MACCALLUM,: Is there any effort on the part of your team to secure this money through another country, Saudi Arabia or Russia, as Joy Behar seems to think?
ALINA HABBA: Well, there’s rules and regulations that are public. I can’t speak about strategy that requires certain things and we have to follow those rules. Like I said, this is manifest injustice. It is impossible. It’s an impossibility, I believe they knew that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: I mean, that wasn’t a no.
ALEX THOMPSON: Yeah, I wasn’t really an answer at all.
TAPPER: (laughs) It wasn’t an answer at all!
THOMPSON: I bet you, if she — what was ready for the questions, she may have answered differently, but how you’re not ready for the question, is really interesting.
It wasn’t just Joy Behar. It was Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, also suggested this on X as well, about this possibility of — you know, when —
TAPPER: Jared got $2 billion in investment from the Saudis. I mean, it’s not wild.
THOMPSON: Absolutely. I mean, I mean, the idea that some foreign person or even some domestic person would want to, you know, front the cost of this, nor to have leverage of the next president. I don’t think is ridiculous.
And I think the idea of foreign interference is justice serious as domestic interference. What happens if some billionaire also wants to have a favor once Trump’s in office.
TAPPER: Right.
STEWART: Here’s the thing. Look, there’s a lot of wrongdoing on the part of Donald Trump here. But the fact that his attorney and his supporters are having to defend nonsense by Joey Behar — Joy Behar and his —
TAPPER: Paul just made the same — you said —
(CROSSTALK) BEGALA: I actually first heard from John Dean, who was the Nixon White House counsel. So, he knows about criminality. And he’s one who first raised this when I talked to him.
STEWART: Ii think the campaign knows full well that the consequences of that. There’s no way I could see them actually doing that because it would put him in such tremendous jeopardy and blackmail situation. I don’t see them moving forward with that.
Watch above via CNN’s The Lead.
