Donald Trump using bail bondsman rings alarm bells about his finances
Donald Trump using bail bondsman rings alarm bells about his finances
"Why did Trump need a bail bondsman if he's a billionaire?" some asked on social media.
Donald Trump reportedly used a bail bondsman after being arrested at Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, paying $20,000 of his bond set at $200,000 and taking out a loan for the rest of it. The fact that the former president resorted to such a measure has sparked questions on social media about the state of his finances.
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Try to overthrow democracy in the US? Just $200k bail.
I always remember a line Quark said in ds9. A fine just means legal for a price. (I realise a fine a bail aren't the same thing.)
While I would very much like to see him stripped of every cent, bail isn't really supposed to be a punishment, it's just insurance that they're going to show up to court.
At least in theory it should be a matter of how much of a flight risk the person is.
The court holds onto some of their money and as long as they show up they get it back.
Someone facing decades to life in prison or the death penalty is more likely to not show up for court and try to run than someone who's just looking at a few months or some fines, so the bail is higher. Someone with a history of trying to skip bail or has otherwise given the court reason to think that they might would get higher bail than someone who has never given a reason for anyone to think that they won't show up, etc.
And in some cases, other factors like income and mental health can also be taken into account to various extents depending on local laws, the judge's discretion, etc.
Now of course that's the theory, in practice just about every aspect of our justice system is incredibly fucked up.
Just to spitball a few thoughts about Trump's situation as I would look at it
Being accused of various crimes related to trying to overthrow the government means the possibility should considered that this may be someone who has little to no regard for the rule of law, and may even be colluding with foreign powers and so may try to flee to another unfriendly country, making him a very significant flight risk.
On the other hand, this is a former president, and major figure in the media. Anyone who cares to can pretty much follow his every move. Hell, it's Trump, there's a very real chance that he wouldn't be able to resist tweeting out his escape plan the night before. It would be nearly impossible for him to flee without someone knowing about it, maybe even one of his closest co-conspirators hoping to earn a bit of leniency for ratting him out. He's also probably one of the most recognizable humans on earth right now, anywhere he goes someone would recognize him, he'd never really be able to show his face in public again.
He also at least claims to be fabulously wealthy, he could potentially afford to put up many thousands, maybe even millions in bail and barely notice it was gone. If his actually wealth is even half as much as he likes to claim, he could shrug off a couple of million and still be set for life, especially at his age.
So setting an appropriate bail amount for someone like him is a bit complicated.
Personally with a situation as seriously and given that Trump should certainly be able to afford it, I'd tend to agree that the ammount should be far higher, but I also don't know what the laws and guidelines look like in GA and ultimately they have to keep to whatever those rules are.