Donald Trump Using Bail Bondsman Rings Alarm Bells About His Finances

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.

Trump voluntarily turned himself in at the Georgia jail where he was booked on 13 felony counts linked to his alleged efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election in the state. Trump and 18 co-defendants, including his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, are accused of conspiring together in the same election plot, according to the indictment released earlier this month.

Trump has been indicted four times since the beginning of the year in separate federal and criminal cases, the latest of which was in Georgia earlier this month. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

The former president's visit to the Atlanta jail lasted about 20 minutes in total, during which his mugshot was taken for the first time since he was indicted four times this year. He was not held in custody as he had already agreed on Monday to pay his bond, set at $200,000.

But according to various news reports, Trump used a bail bondsman for the payment. A bail bondsman is any person, agency, or company that acts as a guarantor in the payment, charging the defendant a fee in return.

On Thursday, Trump posted bail through Georgia local bondsman Charles Shaw of Foster Bail Bonds, whose clients have included politicians and rappers, including Gucci Mane and Rick Ross. Foster Bail Bonds spokesperson Susan Barikos confirmed the involvement of the company to Insider.

Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign team via email for comment on Friday.

Many have described it as odd for a declared billionaire like Trump to use a bondsman instead of paying for it on his own.

"So why did Trump need a bail bondsman if he's a billionaire? Oh right--he expects his followers to pay his legal bills. Trump posted this on Twitter/X to grift. Again," journalist Victoria Brownworth posted on X, formerly Twitter.

"A bail bond is a loan. Trump paid $20,000 (plus possibly other fees). The bail bondsman pays the other $180,000 of Trump's bail. HE COULDN'T PAY HIS OWN BAIL — and relied on debt, like he always does," lawyer Tristan Snell wrote on X.

"People are asking why Trump went through a bail bondsman: BECAUSE HE'S BROKE," wrote another X user.

MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin called the move "unusual" during a Thursday broadcast.

"It's also unusual for a billionaire to post a bond in cash as he did in the E. Jean Carroll's case instead of getting a commercial insurance company to do it for him, and he couldn't do it there," Rubin said. "It leads you to believe that Donald Trump is either ridiculously cheap—which is his reputation—or he has liquidity problems, which has long been rumored."

Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that Trump's campaign finances were strained as the former president was dedicating tens of millions of dollars towards his legal defense. An analysis by the news agency found that Trump's political committees paid out at least $59.2 million to over 100 lawyers and law firms since the beginning of 2021.

On his campaign website, Trump asks his supporters for a "contribution to evict Crooked Joe Biden from the White House and SAVE AMERICA." The options available include donations for $24, $47, $100, $250, $500, $1,000, $3,300 and "other."

If found guilty in the Georgia case, Trump could be considered ineligible for re-election in 2024 under the U.S. Constitution. As of August 24, he is polling at 51.6 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight, and led the Republican primary polls by a huge margin, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis trailing him with 14.8 percent of the vote.