RADIOFebruary 23, 2024

New York’s $355 Million Trump Charge Just Got MORE INSANE

New York’s $355 million civil fraud charge against former president Donald Trump just got MORE INSANE. The charge was already unprecedented. But Glenn and Stu reveal how New York has handled previous similar cases — including the MUCH WORSE actions taken by other companies charged under this rule. This is so obviously a targeted attack against Trump, Glenn argues: “There is no way that I would keep my business in New York. There is no rule of law now.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Okay. Hello, Stu.

STU: Glenn!

You know, I was thinking about this big lawsuit.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: Against the president, former president.

First, he had the $83 million from E. Jean Carroll situation.

GLENN: Which was really caused by him.

STU: This was an interesting point.

He got, I think a totally false accusation against him.

GLENN: Yeah. Totally false.

STU: He said, this was false, this is crazy. He fought it. They went through this case. I think he totally got screwed.

And they ruled against him for a few million dollars. And they said, basically, you can't go on and talk about this anymore.

And he just did.

He was like, I don't care what you say.

GLENN: Yeah. And you know what, you have that right, to do that. If that's what you -- you know, if that's what you want.

STU: He knew what the price of that was. Yes, correct.

STU: He knew the price would be high.

And sometimes, occasionally, people made the point, that Donald Trump, you know, creates some of his own issues. Okay?

GLENN: Yes. But he also has what I like to call FU money.

STU: He has FU money. Right. Exactly.

GLENN: 85 million, it's worth it. She sucks.

STU: Sometimes people have pointed out. That when he makes some of his own problems, he will still say he's the victim of persecution.

He will kind of go to that -- that's kind of the way it goes.

And some have noticed this over time. But might I address this lawsuit, that came down, and this ruling in New York.

GLENN: $355 million. It will cost him over 400 million, when it's all said and done.

By the way, ruling yesterday, the same -- or, the same Supreme Court justice.

Said with that he of some provided a good reason, as to why he should delay the judgment from last week.

So he said, you failed to explain much less justify any basis for a stay. I'm confident that the appellate division will protect your appellate rights. So he has to cough this up.

Now, they're talking about, this is so much money, that he's going to have to put up, probably real estate and sell the -- some real estate to be able to pay for this.

Because you have to put -- you have to put that money into a bond.

And then you have a bond holder, holding it for you.

STU: Right.

GLENN: And you have to pay them an additional fee.

STU: Right. Right. And then hopefully, you win the appeal. And eventually, don't have to pay it then.

GLENN: It will still cost you about 50 million. This has it will still suck.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

STU: But talking about whether he's the victim of political persecution. I believe this case, it's actually provable.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

STU: Like it is -- but it's not just, oh, yeah.

It's not the just, oh, yeah. Well, of course.

Because I think on its face, that's how I react to this.

Right? He's running for president of the United States. They're trying to put him out of business.

Throw him in prison.

Take him off the ballots.

It's so blatantly obvious, on the surface. That that's how I translate it.

GLENN: The only thing he hasn't been hit with is, you know.

Like, here. Have some uranium pie.

STU: Right. That's true.

GLENN: The only thing, is he's not been hit with an umbrella, or the little pin at the end of it. Like the CIA.

STU: That's about it. That's it.

And so I think on its surface, it's easy to just look at this. The details of this one, in particular, are so egregious.

First of all, it's not like, a -- this number that they came up with. They just came up with like an algorithm that they built to come up with this number.

And it's like, well, we think, if he didn't defraud these banks, then the banks would have made more money.

Now, of course, the banks could have gone to have, and requested a higher interest rate. Which they didn't do.

GLENN: Because they found him a good risk. Because they've done business with him before.

STU: Before. And they all knew he had lots of money. And they all knew he had a successful business.

They all knew he would pay back the loans. They all knew this would occur.

So they went down this road. Now, of course, their case in New York. Hey, you defaulted all these banks. Screwed all these banks out of money.

You have to pay $350 million to us.

GLENN: Right.

STU: The state of New York.

GLENN: Because the banks --

STU: The banks get none of this.

GLENN: They didn't file this.

There was no complaint. None.

STU: Even if you think there was no complaint.

If you're saying, they were defrauded. You would think, they would get the money.

But no. It goes directly to the state of New York. Which is just another comical layer to this.

But listen to this breakdown of this particular rule. This law. And how it's been used, in the past.

Because as you point out. There's no victims here. No one is coming.

No bank is like, hey. By the way, he lied about this. It didn't work out for us.

GLENN: In fact, the banks testified on his behalf. Saying, there was no victim.

We knew this. We take that into account with everybody we loan.

That's why we have a whole division that goes out, and does the estimates for us.

We know. We're not stupid.

STU: Right. So this law has been around for 70 years.

And it is -- there is multiple facets of this.

There's the big fine.

Which is kind of the headline.

Also, the fact that they might take his business away.

They're saying his kids can't run the business anymore.

They're trying to turn this into essentially a death penalty for this company.

GLENN: Yes, they are.

So it is the only big business. That was threatened with a shutdown without showing obvious victims or majors losses in 70 years.

The only one. Okay?

The AP went the lie 150 cases, since New York's repeated fraud statute was passed in 1956.

And it showed that nearly every previous time, a company was taken away. Victims and losses were key factors.

You would think, right?

Customers lose money, because they bought defective products or never received services ordered. Leaving them cheated and angry.

What's more, businesses were taken over, almost always as a last resort to stop a fraud in progress, to protect potential victims.

Let's look back at this now, because there is one case where they try to take a company. Which is what they're threatening here, with the Trump Corporation. The Trump Corporation.

GLENN: Hang on.

Do we have that clip of -- of the AGs saying that they will take it? Here it is. Listen.

VOICE: Four days after a judge ordered Donald Trump to pay $355 million for a decade of fraud.

New York attorney general, Letitia James says, she's prepared to do everything she can, to make sure the former president pays his fine. Including, she told us, seizing the businesses that have his name.

VOICE: If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek, you know, judgment enforcement mechanisms in court. And we will ask the judge to seize his assets.

STU: I love the -- she's so dramatic. It's hilarious.

GLENN: I know. I know. Think of that. You're doing business in this morning.

STU: Oh, I would get out of there. You have to get out of there.

GLENN: Get out of there. And honestly, if you live in New York, honestly, you have a house in New York, you're living in New York. You're just like, yeah. Well, we don't want to give up on New York.

Get the hell out of New York.

And I know a lot of people that say, well, I can't. Because my whole family is here.

Get out, of New York.

If they're doing this kind of stuff to him, there is no rule of law in New York.

Okay?

STU: It's always been liberal, right? This is totally different.

It's like the difference between the New York Times.

We were talking about this the other day. Where the New York Times is always liberal.

Then there was, hey, this is an op-ed written by a US senator.

And the op-ed guy gets fired for just letting it be printed.

GLENN: Right.

STU: The crazy people on the left. The AOC's have taken over, places in the media.

And places like this in New York.

This is what it is thousand. So there's been one case. One. One in the entire seven years. Where they did this.

Where they shut down a company, that had no obvious victims.

The case was 1972.

And it was a company, relatively small company, that was writing term papers, for college students. Okay.

So I want to write my paper.

GLENN: I want to break out in God bless America.

STU: Capitalism is pretty impressive. Apparently, this didn't go over that well.

What they said, there were no obvious victims here. The people bought the term papers. They didn't want to write them. They got the term papers. They said, they were defrauding the education system.

GLENN: Which they were.

STU: This is the one time. And it's a small tiny company. Let me give you the other times they've done this.

Tell me if any of these sound like, hey, I have a good interest rate, on a loan I paid back.

Number one, a breast cancer nonprofit was shut down a dozen years ago. For using nearly all its $9 million in donations to pay for director's salaries, perks, and other expenses, instead of funding free mammograms. Okay.

So they told everyone, donate money for free. Mammograms. And they just took all the money for themselves.

That's number one. Number two, a private equity timber.

Faking big investment success, was closed down after stealing millions of dollars from thousands of investors.

Okay?

You can see.

GLENN: Yeah. Got it. But on both of those so far, you have hundreds of thousands of people, you know, I'm sure. That gave -- they're all victims.

They gave their money.

STU: Yeah. And they didn't get the thing that they want.

GLENN: They didn't get the thing they were promised. You have all these people going to the AG. Saying, hey, this is a real problem here. This has to stop. Not here.

GLENN: Not here.

STU: Another one. Mental health facility, shuttered for looting $4 million from public funds, while neglecting patients.

GLENN: Okay. Kind of a big one.

STU: Pretty clear.

An auto lender that allegedly charged hidden interest rates, got to stay in business last year if it paid a fine and didn't commit fraud in the future.

So here's one they didn't shut down.

They actually let them go on.

They're going after Trump in all of this. In this one, they're like, oh. Sure, they're hidden fees.

They're not telling you about them.

GLENN: Okay.

STU: A judge requested.

A judge refused to request to shut down a river rafting company in 2011.

After a customer drowned, and the attorney general showed it was repeatedly using unlicensed guides, or none at all.

Instead, he ordered only a 50,000-dollar bond and cleanup -- for him to clean up his act.

The company is still being run today, under a different name by the same family. Someone died.

GLENN: We have thousands of victims.

And in this case, somebody who is dead.

STU: Is dead!

GLENN: Dead!

STU: They're like, you guys can stay open -- and then this one is my favorite one. A judge in 2001.

Declined to appoint a receiver, to take over a porn site, despite millions of dollars of illegal credit card charges to hundreds of customers.

Who thought they were getting a free tour.

Now, look, you're -- you want to get the free -- you want to know what you're subscribing for, Glenn. Before you just pulled the trigger on that. So you put your credit card information into a porn site, I think some of these victims need some life changes to be made here.

But they put their credit card into a porn site. Expecting a free tour.

They instead, get charged and charged and charged and charged.

In fact, once the owners of the site were caught, they attempted to move their money overseas, to avoid any penalty.

Still, the judge said, appointing a receiver was an extraordinary remedy!

That should be used sparingly, and that a preliminary injunction was good enough.

Only after all that happened, it they find out, the people running the porn site, were the Gambino crime family.
(laughter)
I kid you not. The Gambino crime family.

GLENN: And they didn't go into receivership.

STU: So there you go. Think about that.

I mean, it's so obvious, what they're doing. Latitia james talked about it when she ran.

Her goal was to take this one individual out.

And the New York -- the voters of New York, said, good.

Go do it.

And now she's doing it.

GLENN: Okay. If you are -- if you have business in in New York, if you're in New York, I'm just telling you. You have to do what you have to do.

There's no way, I would keep my business in New York.

There is no rule of law now. You know it on the streets. But there is no rule of law. If they can get away with this. They can do anything to you.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Are Epstein's "Blackmail Videos" Being Used for Leverage RIGHT NOW?

What was Jeffrey Epstein's operation all about. If he was at the center of a massive blackmail operation to compromise those in positions of power, who is in possession of that information now? Glenn Beck and ATF Whistleblower John Dodson analyze the details of this situation and give their thoughts on what is the most likely reality surrounding Epstein.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with ATF Whistleblower John Dodson HERE

WARNING: How America Elects a Socialist President in 2028 | Glenn TV | Ep 444

The rise of Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old socialist who just won the Democratic primary for mayor, is not just a political earthquake shaking New York City — it’s a warning for the rest of America. Backed by Bernie Sanders, AOC, and the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani promises free everything, to tax the rich, and to dismantle capitalism. There’s nothing new about this tired strategy, but the media is propping him up as a new political genius. And with Democrat leaders lining up behind him, it’s clear: This radicalism isn’t fringe anymore. It’s the Democratic Party’s future. Mamdani’s rise is part of a larger movement that’s rewriting America’s values. Glenn Beck explains how New York is the prototype for the Left’s socialist makeover of America. Victor Davis Hanson, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Standford, gives a terrifying prediction on Mamdani’s mayoral race chances and warns the revolution is coming for mainstream Democrats. He also dives into MAGA’s frustration with the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files.

Salena Zito reveals WHY Trump said “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

“I have a new purpose,” then-candidate Donald Trump told reporter Salena Zito after surviving the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Salena joins Glenn Beck to reveal what Trump told her about God, his purpose in life, and why he really said, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”, as she details in her new book, “Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland”.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Salena, congratulations on your book. It is so good.

Just started reading it. Or listening to it, last night.

And I wish you would have -- I wish you would have read it. But, you know, the lady you have reading it is really good.

I just enjoy the way you tell stories.

The writing of this is the best explanation on who Trump supporters are. That I think I've ever read, from anybody.

It's really good.

And the description of your experience there at the edge of the stage with Donald Trump is pretty remarkable as well. Welcome to the program.

SALENA: Thank you, Glenn. Thank you so much for having me.

You know, I was thinking about this, as I was ready to come on. You and I have been along for this ride forever. For what?

Since 2006? 2005?

Like 20 years, right?

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

SALENA: And I've been chronicling the American people for probably ten more years, before that. And it's really remarkable to me, as watching how this coalition has grown. Right?

And watching how people have the -- have become more aspirational.

And that's -- and that is what the conservative populist coalition is, right?

It is the aspirations of many, but the celebration of the individual.

And chronicling them, yeah. Has been -- has been, a great honor.

GLENN: You know, I was thinking about this yesterday, when -- when Elon Musk said he was starting another party.

And somebody asked me, well, isn't he doing what the Tea Party tried to do?

No. The Tea Party was not going to start a new party.

It was to -- you know, it was to coerce and convince the Republican Party to do the right thing. And it worked in many ways. It didn't accomplish what we hoped.

But it did accomplish a lot of things.

Donald Trump is a result of the Tea Party.

I truly believe that. And a lot of the people that were -- right?

Were with Donald Trump, are the people that were with the Tea Party.

SALENA: That's absolutely right.

So that was the inception.

So American politics has always had movements, that have been just outside of a party. Or within a party.

That galvanize and broaden the coalition. Right? They don't take away. Or walk away, and become another party.

If anything, if there is a third party out there, it's almost a Republican Party.

Because it has changed in so many viable and meaningful ways. And the Tea Party didn't go away. It strengthened and broadened the Republican Party. Because these weren't just Republicans that became part of this party.

It was independents. It was Democrats.

And just unhappy with the establishment Republicans. And unhappy with Democrats.

And that -- that movement is what we -- what I see today.

What I see every day. What I saw that day, in butler, when I showed I happen at that rally.

As I do, so many rallies, you know, throughout my career. And that one was riveting and changed everything.

GLENN: You made a great case in the opening chapter. You talk about how things were going for Donald Trump.

And how this moment really did change everything for Donald Trump.

Changed the trajectory, changed the mood.

I mean, Elon Musk was not on the Trump train, until this.

SALENA: Yeah.

GLENN: Moment. What do I -- what changed? How -- how did that work?

And -- and I contend, that we would have much more profound change, had the media actually done their job and reported this the way it really was. Pragmatism

SALENA: You know, and people will find this in the book. I'm laying on the ground with an agent on top of me.

I'm 4 feet away from the president.

And there's -- there's notices coming up on my phone. Saying, he was hit by broken glass.

And to this take, that remains part of this sibling culture, in American politics.

Because reporters were -- were so anxious to -- to right what they believed happened.

As opposed to what happened.

And it's been a continual frustration of mine, as a reporter, who is on the ground, all the time.

And I'll tell you, what changed in that moment.

And I say a nuance, and I believe nuance is dead in American journalism.

But it was a nuance and it was a powerful conversation, that I had with President Trump, the next day. He called me the next morning.

But it's a powerful conversation I had with him, just two weeks ago.

When he made this decision to say, fight, fight, fight.

People have put in their heads, why they think he said it. But he told me why he said that. And he said, Salena, in that moment, I was not Donald Trump the man. I was a former president. I was quite possibly going to be president again.

And I had an obligation to the country, and to the office that I have served in, to project strength. To project resolve.

To project that we will not be defeated.

And it's sort of like a symbolic eagle, that is always -- you know, that symbol that we look at, when we think about our country.

He said, that's why I said that. I didn't want the people behind me panicking. I didn't want the people watching, panicking.

I had to show strength. And it's that nuance -- that I think people really picked up on.

And galvanized people.

GLENN: So he told me, when he was laying down on the stage.

And you can hear him. Let me get up. Let me get up.

I've got to get up.

He told me, as I was laying on the stage. I asked him, what were you thinking? What was going through your head? Now, Salena, I don't know about you.

But with me. It would be like, how do I get off the stage? My first was survival.

He said, what was going on through his mind was, you're not pathetic. This is pathetic.

You're not afraid. Get up.

Get up.

And so is that what informed his fight, fight, fight, of that by the time that he's standing up, he's thinking, I'm a symbol? Or do you think he was thinking, I'm a symbol, this looks pathetic. It makes you look weak.

Stand up. How do you think that actually happened?

SALENA: He thinks, and we just talked about this weeks ago. He -- you know, and this is something that he's really thought about.

Right? You know, he's gone over and over and over. And also, purpose and God. Right? These are things that have lingered with him.

You know, he -- he thought, yes.

He did think, it was pathetic that he was on the ground. But he wasn't thinking about, I'm Donald Trump. It's pathetic.

He's thinking, my country is symbolically on the ground. I need to get up, and I need to show that my country is strong.

That our country is resolute.

And I need people to see that.

We can't go on looking like pathetic.

Right?

And I think that then goes to that image of Biden.

GLENN: You have been with so many presidents.

How many presidents do you think that you've personally been with, would have thought that and reacted that way?

SALENA: Probably only Reagan. Reagan would have. Reagan probably would have thought that.

And if you remember how he was out like standing outside.

You know, waving out the window. Right?

After he was shot.

GLENN: At the hospital, right.

SALENA: Had he not been knocked out, unconscious, you know, he probably would have done the same thing.

Because he was someone who deeply believed in American exceptionalism.

And American exceptionalism does not go lay on the ground.

GLENN: And the symbol.

Right. The symbol of the presidency.

SALENA: Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that affects him today.

GLENN: So let me go back to God.

Because you talked to him the next day. And your book Butler.

He calls you up.

I love the fact that your parents would be ashamed of you. On what you said to him.

The language you used. That you just have to read the book.

It's just a great part.

But he calls you the next morning. And wants to know if you're okay.

And you -- you then start talking to him, about God.

And I was -- I was thinking about this, as I was listening to it. You know, Lincoln said, I wasn't -- I wasn't a Christian.

Even though, he was.

I wasn't a Christian, when I was elected. I wasn't a Christian when my son died.

I became a Christian at Gettysburg.

Is -- is -- I mean, I believe Donald Trump always believes in God, et cetera, et cetera.

Do you think there was a real profound change at Butler with him?

SALENA: Absolutely. You know, he called me seven times that day. Seven times, the take after seven.

GLENN: Crazy.

SALENA: Talked about. And I think he was looking for someone that he knew, that was there. And to try to sort it out.

Right? And I let him do most of the talking. I didn't pressure him.

At all. I believed that he was having -- you know, he was struggling. And he needed to just talk. And I believed my purpose was to listen.

Right? I know other reporters would have handled it differently. And that's okay. That's not the kind of reporter that I am.

And I myself was having my own like, why didn't I die?

Right?

Because it went right over my head.

And -- and so I -- he had the conversation about God.

He's funny. I thought it was the biggest mosquito in the world that hit me.

But he had talked profoundly about purpose. You know, and God.

And how God was in that moment.

It --

GLENN: I love the way you -- in the book, I love the way you said that as he's kind of working it out in his own he head.

He was like, you know, I -- I -- I always knew that there was some sort of, you know -- that God was present.

He said, but now that this has happened.

I look back at all of the trials.

All of the tribulations. Literally, the trials.

All of the things that have happened. And he's like, I realized God was there the whole time.

SALENA: Yes. He does. And it's fascinating to have been that witness to history, to have those conversations with him. Because I'm telling you. And y'all know, I can talk. I didn't say much of anything.

I just -- I just listened. I felt that was my purpose, in that moment.

To give him that space, to work it out.

I'm someone that is, you know, believes in God.

I'm Catholic. I followed my faith.

And -- and so, I thought, well, this is why God put me here. Right?

And to -- to have that -- to hear him talk about purpose, to hear him say, Salena. Why did I put a chart down?

I'm like, sir. I don't know. I thought you were Ross Perot for a second.

He never has a chart. And he laughed. And then he said, why did I put that chart down?

By that term, I never turned my head away from people at the rally. That's true.

That relationship is very transactional. It's very -- they feed off of each other.

It's a very emotive moment when you attend a rally. Because he has a way of talking at a rally. That you believe that you are seeing.

And he said, and I never turn my head away.

I never turn my head away.

Why did I turn my head away?

I don't remember consciously thinking about turning my head away. And then he says to me, that was God, wasn't it?

Yes, sir. It was. It was God.

And he said, that's -- that's why I have a new purpose.

And so, Glenn. I think it's important, when you look at the breadth of what has happened, since he was sworn in.

You see that purpose, every day.

He doesn't let up.

He continues going.

And it brings back to the beginning of the book.

Where you find out, that there was another president that was shot at in Butler.

And that was George Washington. And how different the country would have been, had he died in that moment.

And now think about how different the country would be, had President Trump died in that moment. There would be --

GLENN: We're talking to -- we're talking to Salena Zito. About her new book called Butler. The assassination attempt on President Trump. And it is riveting.

And, you know, it is so good. I wish the press would read it. Because it really explains who we are, who Trump supporters are. Who are, you know, red staters. It is so good at that. She's the best at that.