Former President Donald Trump's self-enriching merger and public offering are about to move forward, making his Trump Media group and Truth Social platform a public company — and, to his calculation, netting him billions of dollars worth of stock.
But not so fast, former federal prosecutor Harry Litman told MSNBC's Alicia Menendez on Friday. Trump's valuation, much like those of his real estate holdings which were just held to be fraudulent in a $464 million lawsuit, is a fantasy — and it's not going to get him out of his financial bind in paying any of his massive legal judgments.
"Talk about what is being called a potential windfall for Trump, voting to take Trump Media public ... could mean Trump will own about 60 percent of the company worth about $3.3 billion," said Menendez. "That Trump could use to pay down his legal debts. Does that kind of windfall arrive in time to address this current challenge?"
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"It wouldn't, unless the board for Truth Social votes," said Litman, adding, "But of course, they are in his pocket. The short story on here, is he would make Truth Social have an IPO that he said would be valued at $5 billion. Of course, that is a joke. And in any case, you can't convert that into the bond, you need the benevolent billionaire out there, and there is a possibility of a man named Jeff Yass, a Republican, will come forward to be that person to take the money on paper and use it as collateral to advance the bond."
"But a couple of points to make," Litman continued. "First, if it comes to it, and I think all three of us think it will not, that [NY Attorney General Letitia] James is having her choice, many of these buildings already are deeply encumbered and it is not just valued less but she would have to stand in line. The second important point is ... the obituary may be written even if he ponies up his own $500 million, because it could hollow out the businesses so much it would be like a shell where all of the pencils and furniture have been emptied. And then, finally, and Jeff Yass is an illustration, we're talking about this drama, 'The Perils of Pauline,' where he somehow, you know, escapes at the last moment, hooray for him."
However, he said, "The better movie here, I think, is 'The Manchurian Candidate,' where the presidential candidate winds up completely beholden to someone, be it a Jeff Yass or a foreign figure, and he is able to get out of the trouble at the cost of something we need to be worried about, of his being deeply beholden to someone whose interests are with that billionaire and not the people of United States."
Watch the video below or at the link.
Harry Litman says Trump's "joke" valuation of Trump Social won't save himwww.youtube.com
