(WASHINGTON) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to reschedule his delegation’s visit to the White House after he canceled the trip on Monday, a U.S. official told ABC News on Wednesday.
“The prime minister’s office has agreed to reschedule the meeting dedicated to Rafah. We are now working to find a convenient date,” the official told ABC News.
Israel pulled its delegation earlier this week after the U.S. allowed, through abstention, for the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza for the remaining days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan — and potentially longer.
The resolution called for the unconditional release of hostages being held by Hamas terrorists, though it did not explicitly tie that with a temporary cease-fire. The resolution further urged that the humanitarian pause should then lead “to a lasting sustainable ceasefire.”
The White House said on Monday that it was “disappointed” and “kind of perplexed” that Israel canceled the delegation’s planned visit to the U.S.
The decision to reschedule came after several members of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet held “constructive discussions” with Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant this week in Washington, D.C., the official said.
The official said that Rafah, a city in the south of Gaza bordering Egypt, was “one of the many topics discussed” during meetings with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and CIA Director Bill Burns.
Netanyahu said that a victory against Hamas is “impossible” without the Israel Defense Forces entering Rafah to eliminate the rest of the terrorist group’s battalions.
Hamas waged an attack on Israel on Oct. 7, which has led to months of conflict.
In the Gaza Strip, more than 31,000 people have been killed by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health. In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to Israeli officials.
The White House has said Biden has “deep concerns” Israel will not do enough to prevent civilian casualties as it goes after Hamas fighters in Rafah.
The Israeli military said that it plans to direct many of the displaced Palestinians living in Rafah toward “humanitarian islands” in the center of the territory ahead of any invasion.
ABC News’ Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday heard a challenge to the Food and Drug Administration’s regulation of mifepristone, a widely used drug used in medication abortions.
In what was the most significant reproductive rights case brought before the high court since its conservative majority overruled Roe v. Wade in 2022, most of the justices, across ideological lines, appeared skeptical of restricting access to the abortion pill nationwide and repeatedly questioned whether the group of anti-abortion doctors who brought the case had standing to sue and seek such a sweeping remedy.
A decision in the case is expected by the end of June.
Here are five key takeaways from the roughly two hours of arguments.
Standing at center of debate: ‘You need a person’
The arguments largely revolved around whether the anti-abortion plaintiffs, the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, had standing to bring this case — specifically whether their clients had suffered the kind of injury from the FDA’s regulation needed to meet the legal requirement to challenge it.
“The FDA approved mifepristone based on the agency’s scientific judgment that the drug is safe and effective,” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, representing the federal government, said in her opening statement.
“Americans have used mifepristone to safely end their pregnancies. Respondents may not agree with that choice, but that doesn’t give them … standing or a legal basis to upend the regulatory scheme,” she continued.
While mifepristone was first approved in 2000, Tuesday’s hearing more specifically examined the claim that the FDA improperly relaxed regulations around using the pill in 2016 and 2021.
Prelogar argued that the doctors cited by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine as having suffered conscience harm — because they oppose abortion but contend they are forced to be connected to treating abortion patients through the widespread use of mifepristone — don’t “come within 100 miles” of standing as established by the Supreme Court precedent.
Justice Elena Kagan pressed the counsel for the group on this point directly, asking her: “You need a person … So who’s your person?”
Senior counsel Erin Hawley, defending the doctors, argued they did have proper standing because the FDA’s “outsourcing of abortion drug harm to respondent doctors forces them to choose between helping a woman with a life-threatening condition and violating their conscience.”
Anti-abortion doctors voice conscience objections
Hawley argued not having a nationwide injunction of mifepristone may require the anti-abortion doctors to treat people experiencing abortion complications and “take an unborn life.”
Hawley also invoked the specter of an “intolerable” choice created by the widespread use of mifepristone if an anti-abortion doctor must consider treating abortion patients in an emergency situation or not.
She said plaintiffs have treated people experiencing abortion complications “dozens of times” and even said treatment may require “scraping out a uterus,” She did not provide specific numbers.
However, Justice Amy Coney Barrett noted that two of the doctors cited by Hawley do not appear to have ever participated themselves in an abortion to terminate an embryo or a fetus. Barrett asked Hawley: “Do you want to address that?”
Hawley answered that precedent showed a doctor could claim harm of conscience and the FDA’s action with regards to mifepristone created “substantial risk” that they’d have to ultimately confront a situation requiring them to, in her words, end the life of an unborn baby.
Prelogar said the federal government does believe that, with some exceptions, individual doctors still have broad “conscience protections” if they oppose abortion and decline to provide access to mifepristone and that federal laws already protect doctors in this situation.
Justices question if a sweeping ban is necessary
As Hawley voiced the objections of the anti-abortion plaintiffs, some justices pressed whether a sweeping ban was truly necessary.
if a nationwide reversal of the FDA’s approval of mifepristone is needed because the court could simply rule that doctors do not need to prescribe the pill if they have conscience objections.
“Do we have to entertain your argument that no one in the world can have this drug in order to protect your client?” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asked Hawley.
“It makes sense for individual doctors to seek a [conscience] exemption but they already have that,” Jackson said at one point in the arguments. “What they are asking for here is — in order to prevent them from ever having to do these kinds of procedures — that everyone else should be prevented from getting access to that medication. How is that not overbroad?”
Several other justices, including conservative-leaning Neil Gorsuch, also appeared leery of reinstating sweeping limits on the drug nationwide when only a handful of doctors were alleging harm.
“This case seems like a prime example of turning what could be a small lawsuit into a nationwide legislative assembly on an FDA rule or any other federal government action,” Gorsuch said.
Hawley argued that given the “emergency nature” that could require doctors to treat women suffering abortion complications that result in terminating an embryo or a fetus, it is “impracticable” to have the doctors rely solely on their personal conscience objections without broader restrictions.
Gorsuch pressed Hawley on what he called a “rash of universal injunctions” the court has had to review, which appeared to reference the ruling from Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas, who outright suspended the FDA’s original approval of mifepristone potentially blocking access to the abortion medication across the country.
Kacsmaryk’s decision led to the appellate fight which came before the high court this week.
Questions over potential ‘harms’ and FDA regulation
Prelogar and Jessica Ellsworth, who represented mifepristone manufacturer Danco Labs, both advocated for the drug’s safety and defended the FDA’s judgment — warning of broader consequences for all drug approvals if the agency’s expertise were, in their view, invalidated or undercut by the courts.
Justice Samuel Alito noted to Prelogar that the plaintiffs argued in court filings that studies have shown after the 2021 change from the FDA, which allowed mifepristone to be mailed, that there was an increase in emergency room visits.
Prelogar said the agency acknowledged that while some studies have shown the availability of abortion pills by mail led to more ER visits, this did not equate to “more serious adverse effects.”
“Many might go because they are experiencing heavy bleeding which mimics a miscarriage and they need to know whether or not they are having a complication,” she said.
Alito also asked Jessica Ellsworth, representing the drug manufacturer, if she believed FDA was “infallible” — which she rejected.
Alito further questioned whether the FDA should have continued requiring prescribers to report non-fatal complications of mifepristone.
Justice Jackson, following up on whether Ellsworth believed the FDA was “infallible,” pondered the alternative of having courts interpreting medical studies without specialized scientific knowledge.
“I think we have significant concerns about that,” Ellsworth said, noting that Judge Kacsmaryk in Texas relied on, in part, two studies that were retracted earlier this year.
What about the Comstock Act?
Justices Clarence Thomas and Alito repeatedly asked counsels about the relevance of the Comstock Act, a 151-year-old law under which it’s illegal to use carriers like the United States Postal Service to mail “obscene” materials such as drugs that induce abortions.
Prelogar told Alito she did not believe the law fell under the FDA’s “lane” of responsibilities when he asked whether the agency should consider Comstock’s provisions when regulating mifepristone.
Thomas questioned Ellsworth on why the legislation doesn’t prohibit her company from mailing and advertising the pill.
Ellsworth responded that the Comstock Act has not been enforced for “over 100 years” and that she didn’t believe this case presented the court an opportunity to “opine” on its reach. She also noted the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on mifepristone did not consider the Comstock Act argument made by the anti-abortion group.
“The FDA routinely approves drugs whose manufacturer and distribution is restricted by other laws, like the Controlled Substances Act, environmental laws, customs laws and so on,” she said. “I think this court should think hard about the mischief it would invite if it allowed agencies to start taking action based on statutory responsibilities that Congress has assigned to other agencies.”
ABC News’ Devin Dwyer and Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday — a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled the delegation to the United States that was going to discuss plans for an operation in Rafah.
Israel pulled its delegation after the U.S. allowed, through abstention, for the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza for the remaining days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan — and potentially longer.
The resolution called for the unconditional release of hostages being held by Hamas terrorists, though it did not explicitly tie that with a temporary cease-fire. The resolution further urged that the humanitarian pause should then lead “to a lasting sustainable ceasefire.”
In brief remarks ahead of their meeting at the Pentagon on Tuesday, Austin said in his strongest terms yet that humanitarian considerations, such as the 1.5 million Palestinian civilians currently sheltering in Rafah and the acute threat of famine, must be confronted amid the war in Gaza.
“In Gaza today, the number of civilian casualties is far too high and the amount of humanitarian aid is far too low. Gaza is suffering a humanitarian catastrophe and the situation is getting even worse,” Austin said ahead of a meeting with Gallant, who was at the Pentagon after meetings at the White House and State Department on Monday.
Austin raised humanitarian priorities as Israel plans an offensive in Rafah, a city in the south of Gaza bordering Egypt, a campaign Netanyahu has said is needed to root out Hamas. The White House has said Biden has “deep concerns” Israel will not do enough to prevent civilian casualties as it goes after Hamas fighters in the city.
The Israeli military said that it plans to direct many of the displaced Palestinians living in Rafah toward “humanitarian islands” in the center of the territory ahead of any invasion.
Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, waged an attack on Israel on Oct. 7, which has led to months of conflict.
In the Gaza Strip, more than 31,000 people have been killed by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health. In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to Israeli officials.
“We continue to share the goal of seeing Hamas defeated, so we’ll discuss alternative approaches to target Hamas elements,” Austin said, adding that there would be a discussion about “how we can dramatically and urgently ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
Gallant did not mention humanitarian conditions or “alternative” military approaches in Gaza or Rafah, but previewed a discussion on continued U.S.-Israeli security cooperation.
“Today, we will discuss the developments in Gaza and the means to achieve our goals: the destruction of Hamas organization and bringing back the Israeli hostages back home,” Gallant said.
Austin reiterated that the United States is an ally to Israel, saying that “we continue to share the goal of seeing Hamas defeated.”
“Our security bond is unshakeable. The United States is Israel’s closest friend, and that won’t change,” Austin said.
Yet Austin’s characterization of the situation on the ground as a “catastrophe” is a more direct assessment than the Pentagon has previously offered — as the Biden administration continues to warn of dire humanitarian consequences in the Gaza Strip.
After the U.S. changed course by foregoing a veto at the Security Council, the State Department said during Secretary Antony Blinken’s meeting with Gallant on Monday, Blinken “reiterated opposition to a major ground operation in Rafah.”
While Austin did not express public opposition to a military campaign in Rafah, in addition to his call for security “alternatives,” he appealed for stepped-up humanitarian measures — beyond aid corridors by the sea that the Pentagon is spearheading.
“We need immediate increases and assistance to avert famine, and our work to open a temporary humanitarian corridor by sea will help, but the key is still expanding aid deliveries by land,” he said.
A report out earlier this month found that famine is “imminent” in northern Gaza amid ongoing high levels of food insecurity on the Gaza Strip as the Israel-Hamas war rages on.
President Joe Biden recently announced an “emergency” military mission to construct a port in the Mediterranean Sea on Gaza’s coast to get humanitarian aid in.
A senior defense official said the port’s main feature will be a temporary pier that will “provide the capacity for hundreds of additional truckloads of assistance each day.”
(WASHINGTON) — The House Ethics Committee is investigating Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, the panel said in a statement on Tuesday.
The committee did not specify what it is investigating and said it will make another announcement on the matter by May 10. The issue was first flagged to the committee by the independent Office of Congressional Ethics in December.
“The Committee notes that the mere fact of a referral or an extension, and the mandatory disclosure of such an extension and the name of the subject of the matter, does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the Committee,” Mississippi Rep. Michael Guest, the ethics chair, and Pennsylvania Rep. Susan Wild, the ranking Democrat, said in the statement.
Nehls stressed his cooperation and transparency in a statement issued after the ethics committee’s announcement.
He also said the matter had to do with campaign money.
“I look forward to assisting the House Committee on Ethics inquiry into my campaign’s finances,” he said. “My campaign has complied with every Federal Election Commission (FEC) law, and my books are open.”
A former sheriff, Nehls was first elected in 2020.
(OAKLAND, Calif.) — Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has named Nicole Shanahan as his running mate.
Kennedy spoke glowingly about Shanahan on stage during his announcement event in Oakland, California, citing, among other attributes, her passion for health care.
He also said choosing a young running mate was crucial. Shanahan, a lawyer and tech entrepreneur in the Bay Area, is 38.
The announcement follows a selection process in which he vetted an eclectic group of high-profile people, including New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura and television host Mike Rowe.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden gave remarks Tuesday on the Baltimore bridge collapse, telling residents “we’re going to stay with you as long as it takes.”
“It’s my intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstruction in that bridge. I expect the Congress to support my effort,” Biden said from the White House.
“This is going to take some time,” the president said, adding, “We’re not leaving until this job gets done.”
Personnel on the ship alerted the Maryland Department of Transportation that they lost control of the vessel, and local authorities were able to close the bridge before it was struck, “which undoubtedly saved lives,” Biden told reporters.
A cargo ship crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday morning, causing a near-total collapse of the span and halting vessel traffic into and out of the Port of Baltimore.
A search-and-rescue effort is underway, with divers and emergency personnel desperately combing the Patapsco River for people believed to have fallen from the collapsing bridge into the frigid water below, officials said. At least six people are unaccounted for, officials said.
It appears the crash was a “terrible accident,” Biden said.
He said the search and rescue operation is the top priority.
Biden, who noted he’s been over the bridge many times, said he plans to visit Baltimore as soon as possible.
“Ship traffic and the port of Baltimore has been suspended until further notice. And we’ll need to clear that channel before the ship traffic can resume,” the president said.
“Our prayers are with everyone involved in this terrible accident and all the families, especially those waiting for news of their loved one right now,” Biden said. “I know every minute in that circumstance feels like a lifetime, you just don’t know. It’s just terrible.”
“We’re incredibly grateful for the brave rescuers who immediately rushed to the scene and to the people of Baltimore. I want to say, we’re with you,” the president said. “We’re going to stay with you, as long as it takes. And like the governor said, ‘you’re Maryland tough, you’re Baltimore strong and we’re going to get through this together.'”
Biden convened senior members of his team Tuesday morning for a briefing on the ongoing response and directed them to ensure all federal resources are made available, the White House said.
ABC News’ Mariam Khan, Kevin Shalvey and Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.
Capitol Police on Tuesday morning arrested 13 protesters who were demonstrating against the Supreme Court’s examination of restrictions to the abortion pill mifepristone.
The Supreme Court justices on Tuesday are hearing arguments over whether the Food and Drug Administration lawfully relaxed restrictions to make it easier to access the drug to end a pregnancy. Mifepristone, the first pill taken in a two-drug regimen for a medication abortion, is the most common method of abortion in the country.
Capitol Police said the 13 protesters were moving around the Capitol grounds and “illegally blocking roads and then a walkway.”
“Our officers warned the group to stop blocking the walkway or they would be arrested. They refused, so our officers arrested them,” a Captiol Police spokesperson said.
Throughout the morning, there were large competing demonstrations outside the building. Small groups of pro-abortion rights demonstrators staged sit-ins on sidewalks and roadways.
It’s not yet clear if the protesters were part of a specific group.
Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign aide who was indicted alongside the former president in the Georgia election interference case, has been subpoenaed as part of a separate probe in Arizona investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in that state, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The subpoena, which has not been previously reported, comes as part of an ongoing investigation by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, whose office previously confirmed to ABC News she was investigating the so-called “alternate elector” plot in the state.
“We will announce something in the relatively near future,” Mayes said recently of the investigation.
Attorney Kenneth Chesebro, who is accused of helping devise the Trump campaign’s fake elector plan, sat for an interview with investigators in Arizona in recent weeks, sources also told ABC News. Chesebro was indicted in the Georgia investigation and took a deal with prosecutors, changing his plea to guilty to a single felony charge and agreeing to cooperate.
A source said Chesebro was not subpoenaed in Arizona and sat for the interview voluntarily.
An attorney for Roman and a spokesperson for the Arizona attorney general’s office declined to comment to ABC News.
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ABC News previously obtained a Dec. 6, 2020, memo authored by Chesebro, that laid out a plan for “alternate” electors to meet, vote, and send in their certificates to be counted in a proposal that prosecutors said was designed to “mimic as best as possible the actions of the legitimate Biden electors, and that on January 6, the Vice President [would] open and count the fraudulent votes, setting up a fake controversy that would derail the proper certification of Biden as president-elect.”
Roman was previously indicted in Georgia in August alongside Trump and 17 others over allegations that the group attempted to overturn that state’s election results. He pleaded not guilty to the seven counts he faces, which include charges relating to his alleged efforts to help coordinate and appoint alternate slates of electors.
The indictment alleges Roman was involved in that effort in multiple states.
“I need a tracker for the electors,” Roman allegedly wrote in a December, 2020 email, according to the indictment, in which he allegedly instructed individuals associated with the Trump campaign to update a spreadsheet listing presidential elector nominees in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, and other battleground states.
Prosecutors in multiple other states have also brought charges over the alleged effort to submit alternate slates of electors. In June, prosecutors in Michigan filed felony charges against 16 Republicans over their alleged efforts to replace Michigan’s electoral votes for Joe Biden with electoral votes for then-President Donald Trump, with nine of them subsequently pleading not guilty.
In December, the Nevada attorney general indicted six so-called alternate electors for falsely portraying themselves as Nevada’s duly-elected presidential electors. Earlier this month, Politico reported the office had issued a number of grand jury subpoenas.
In November, Mayes told CNN that the Arizona investigation was “robust.”
“We’re going to make sure that we do it on our timetable, applying the resources that it requires to make sure that justice is done, for not only Arizonans, but for the entire country,” she said.
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump appeared to blame Israel for antisemitism, saying Israel made a “big mistake” in its response to Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7 and is “losing a lot of support” from around the world. But he also noted that he would have responded “very much the same” as Israel did against such an attack.
Sitting down at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend with Israeli outlet Israel Hayom, which is owned by the late major Republican megadonor and casino mogul Sheldon Adelson’s family, Trump said “that’s because you fought back,” when he was asked how he would deal with a wave of antisemitism in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
“Well, that’s because you fought back. And I think Israel made a very big mistake,” Trump reportedly said in a part of the interview that was released only in text, calling attention to the harrowing images from the war released by the Israeli government.
“I wanted to call [Israel] and say don’t do it. These photos and shots. I mean, moving shots of bombs being dropped into buildings in Gaza,” Trump reportedly continued. “And I said, Oh, that’s a terrible portrait. It’s a very bad picture for the world. The world is seeing this … every night, I would watch buildings pour down on people. It would say it was given by the Defense Ministry, and said whoever’s providing that, that’s a bad image.”
When Israel Hayom followed up, claiming terrorists are hiding in buildings, Trump reportedly responded: “Go and do what you have to do. But you don’t do that.”
“And I think that’s one of the reasons that there has been a lot of kickback. If people didn’t see that, every single night I’ve watched every single one of those. And I think Israel wanted to show that it’s tough, but sometimes you shouldn’t be doing that,” the former president continued.
Hamas carried out an unprecedented incursion from Gaza into southern Israel by air, land and sea on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 253 others hostage, according to Israeli authorities. More than 31,400 Palestinians have been killed and more than 72,000 others have been injured in Gaza since Oct. 7, amid Israel’s ongoing ground operations and aerial bombardment of the strip, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
The Israel Defense Forces has said it is only targeting Hamas and other militants in Gaza and alleges that Hamas deliberately shelters behind civilians, which the group denies.
In another part of the interview, released as a part of a 10-minute edited video, Trump warned Israel that it’s “losing a lot of support” from the world and urged it to end the war.
“I will say Israel has to be very careful because you’re losing a lot of the world. You’re losing a lot of support,” Trump said, going beyond his usual line of calling for peace. “But you have to finish up. You have to get the job done. And you have to get on to peace. You have to get on to a normal life for Israel and for everybody else.”
When asked how he would react to an attack like that of Hamas on Oct. 7, Trump said he would “act very much the same as you did,” saying “you would have to be crazy not to.”
Throughout the Israel Hayom interview, Trump blamed President Joe Biden, saying, in part: “But it was an attack that I blame on Biden because they have no respect for him.”
Later in the interview, Trump said he believed Israel needs to improve in “public relations,” claiming that pro-Israel forces were much stronger in the United States in the past.
On the campaign trail, Trump has branded himself as the most pro-Israel U.S. president in history, often touting his role in the first term moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and claiming he’d stand with Israel “all the way 100% without hesitation” after the Hamas attack last year.
Trump himself has not refrained from making disparaging comments about the war, telling a group of Jewish Republicans in Las Vegas last year: “The conflict between Israel and Hamas is not a conflict between two equal sides. This is a fight between civilization and savagery. Between decency and depravity and between good and evil.”
“There can be no sympathy, no excuses and no escape for these monsters and we will do what has to be done,” Trump said at the Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas.
After he recently faced backlash for saying Jewish Democrats “hate Israel” and “should be ashamed of themselves,” Trump again echoed a similar sentiment over the weekend, claiming Jewish Americans should not vote for Democrats.
“I think that means you should never vote for them. How could a Jewish person vote for Kamala Harris?” Trump said, when asked about Vice President Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter Ella Emhoff reportedly helping raise money for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the main U.N. humanitarian organization operating in Gaza and some of whose staff have been accused by Israel of participating in the Oct. 7 attack.
“You might have Kamala Harris if this doesn’t work out, you have her right now. If something happened to [Biden], you have her,” Trump said.
(NEW YORK) — A New York appellate court has ruled that former President Donald Trump can post a lower bond to cover his $464 million civil fraud judgment.
The Appellate Division, First Department said Trump can post a bond “in the amount of $175 million” to cover the judgment.
Trump’s attorneys had argued obtaining a bond for the full amount of $464 million was a “practical impossibility.”
The panel of five judges also opted to delay enforcement of the $464 million judgment by 10 days.
The ruling comes as Trump and his sons faced a Monday deadline to pay or secure a bond, or risk New York Attorney General Letitia James beginning the process of seizing the former president’s prized assets.
“It is ordered that the motion is granted to the extent of staying enforcement of those portions of the Judgment (1) ordering disgorgement to the Attorney General of $464,576,230.62, conditioned on defendants-appellants posting, within ten (10) days of the date of this order, an undertaking in the amount of $175 million dollars,” the two-page order said.
Trump, addressing reporters during his appearance Monday at a hearing in his hush money criminal case, thanked the appellate court for the ruling.
“I greatly respect the decision of the Appellate Division, and I’ll post either $175 million in cash or bonds or security or whatever is necessary very quickly within the 10 days, and I thank the Appellate Division for acting quickly,” Trump said.
“We got what we wanted,” one source close to Trump told ABC News.
Thirty bond companies had declined to offer Trump a bond to cover the full $464 million judgment and were waiting for the appeals court to rule.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the New York attorney general said, “The $464 million judgment — plus interest — against Donald Trump and the other defendants still stands.”
“Donald Trump is still facing accountability for his staggering fraud,” the statement said. “The court has already found that he engaged in years of fraud to falsely inflate his net worth and unjustly enrich himself, his family, and his organization.”
Trump attorney Alina Habba, in a statement, said, “We are extremely pleased with the ruling issued by the Appellate Division. This monumental holding reigns in Judge Engoron’s verdict, which is an affront to all Americans. This is the first important step in fighting back against Letitia James and her targeted witch hunt against my client which started before she ever stepped foot in office.”
“The First Department no doubt recognized the rule of law must triumph over the political agenda of the Attorney General,” said Trump attorney Christopher Kise. “President Trump looks forward to a full and fair appellate process which overturns the judgment and ends the Attorney General’s abuse of power and tyrannical pursuit of the front running candidate for President of the United States.”
In February, Judge Arthur Engoron found that Trump and his sons had committed a decade of fraud by inflating their assets to obtain better business deals. Trump and his sons have denied all wrongdoing and have appealed the ruling.
The finding and $354 million penalty, plus interest, immediately presented a cash crunch for a man who successfully ran for president on his wealth and success.
“I mean I became president because of the brand, OK? I became president. I think it’s the hottest brand in the world,” Trump told the attorney general’s office during a deposition last year.
Since Judge Engoron’s order last month, Trump’s lawyers have made a concerted effort to delay the enforcement of the massive financial penalty in his civil fraud case as well as the $83.3 million judgment he was ordered to pay after a jury found him liable for defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump, who has denied all wrongdoing, has filed a notice of appeal in that case.
Following Trump’s fraud judgment, Trump’s lawyers first asked Judge Engoron to delay entering the judgment by 30 days “to allow for an orderly post-Judgment process, particularly given the magnitude of Judgment.”
Engoron denied that request and signed the judgment on Feb. 22; the following day, the New York Supreme Court clerk entered the judgment, effectively starting the clock for the financial penalties in the case.
“You have failed to explain, much less justify, any basis for a stay,” Engoron wrote in response to the defense’s request. “I am confident that the Appellate Division will protect your appellate rights.”
The following week, Trump’s lawyers asked New York’s Appellate Division, First Department for permission to post a $100 million bond — a fraction of the over $550 million needed to cover the full judgment. They advised the court that a bond for the complete judgment was “impossible” and that the Trump Organization might have to sell off properties.
“In the absence of a stay on the terms herein outlined, properties would likely need to be sold to raise capital under exigent circumstances, and there would be no way to recover any property sold following a successful appeal and no means to recover the resulting financial losses from the Attorney General,” defense attorneys said.
Lawyers for the New York attorney general pushed back against their request, arguing Trump might attempt to evade punishment if his appeal fails.
An appellate judge on Feb. 28 denied Trump’s request for a stay of the financial penalty, but lifted a ruling Judge Engoron handed down prohibiting Trump from running any New York company and accessing lines of credit, opening the door for Trump to ask surety companies for a bond.
But Trump’s lawyers returned to the same court last Monday, asking again for a delay because finding a bond company to sign off on a $550 million bond was a “practical impossibility,” they told the court. Because of the size of the bond and the necessity for Trump to use property as collateral, more than 30 surety companies turned down the potential bond, according to a court filing.
“Perhaps worst of all, the Attorney General argues that Defendants should be forced to dispose of iconic, multi-billion-dollar real-estate holdings in a ‘fire sale,'” a defense lawyer told the court.
Trump himself has claimed that he has almost $500 million dollars in cash, but his lawyers have argued that he can’t both pay the bond and run his companies. Despite not spending any of his own money on his presidential campaign in 2020, Trump also claimed he wanted to use the money on his current campaign.
“Billions of dollars of value, billions of dollars in properties, but they’d like to take the cash away, so I can’t use it on the campaign,” Trump said last week.
Trump’s lawyers also made a similar effort to delay the enforcement of the judgment in his $83.3 million defamation case, though the former president eventually secured a $91 million bond for the judgment plus interest by using a brokerage account as collateral.
While James won’t be putting a padlock on buildings like Trump Tower or 40 Wall Street, she took initial steps last week to potentially seize a golf course and estate that Trump owns in New York’s Westchester County by registering the judgment there.
“I’m going to assume they’re going to go to the New York properties first because that’s the easiest thing to do,” Steven Cohen, a New York attorney whose work includes enforcing judgments, told ABC News, said of a potential process to seize Trump’s assets.
![Austin to Israeli defense minister: ‘Civilian casualties [are] far too high’ in Gaza](https://s3.amazonaws.com/syndication.abcaudio.com/files/2024-03-26/GettyImages_LloydAustin_032624.jpg "Austin to Israeli defense minister: ‘Civilian casualties [are] far too high’ in Gaza")
