Donald Trump's Financial Woes Have Everyone Saying The Same Thing About Ivanka & Jared

Talk about being hit where it hurts: Donald Trump was hit with a massive fine in his New York civil fraud lawsuit, along with a ban on doing business in the Big Apple for three years. He was ordered to pay $454 million by the end of March 2024, and as of this report, the former president had come up short on funds. It seems most of his fortune is tied up in real estate, with not enough liquid assets to spare for a judgment that large. "Very few bonding companies will consider a bond of anything approaching that magnitude," argued his lawyers (via CNN). On his Truth Social platform, Trump called the demand "un-Constitutional, un-American [and] unprecedented," among other things. The case is currently under appeal, and Trump's team is trying to delay the bond posting until all legal avenues have been exhausted. 

The news of the billionaire presidential hopeful scrambling for cash struck many of Trump's detractors as amusingly ironic. It also sparked a lively discussion on X (the platform previously known as Twitter) focusing on one question. "Why aren't Jared and Ivanka bailing Trump out?" asked one representative commenter, implying they could dip into the huge sum Jared Kushner's equity firm received from the Saudi crown prince. Another joked, "Trump's probably wondering why Jared and Ivanka's phones are going straight to voicemail."

All kidding aside, the question actually has some merit. The Trump family has a history of helping one another out when financial matters are concerned.

The Trump family is known as much for its loyalty as for its wealth — and they often show the former by sharing the latter. Donald Trump has offered a financial hand to his children more than once, and vice versa. For instance, Ivanka Trump was at one time on the board of directors of Signature Bank. The small bank funded one of the Trump golf courses, and made loans to Ivanka's husband and father-in-law, Jared and Charles Kushner, among other transactions. 

The New York fraud case against the senior Trump forced Ivanka to open up about another family money issue. Per Newsweek, the former first daughter testified she and two of her brothers, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, had pledged their personal assets to help their father secure a loan from Deutsche Bank. The information was used to show the senior Trump had inflated his personal net worth to seem more appealing to lenders. While Ivanka might not have been thrilled to be spilling information about her family's financial dealings, her dad made it worth her while. A report from Business Insider (per New York Magazine) revealed one of Trump's political action committees, the Save America PAC, paid the $2 million-plus fees for Ivanka's two legal teams.

If Donald Trump can't pay the hefty fine from his fraud case, and all his court appeals fail, it's probable his adult children will help him secure the funds he needs.