Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sunday insisted that the massive $355 million fraud fine slapped against Donald Trump won’t scare away or hurt New York businesses — because most local merchants abide by the law.
“I understand [that the Trump ruling might make New York business people fearful], but this is really an extraordinarily unusual circumstance that the law-abiding, rule-following New Yorkers who are businesspeople have nothing to worry about because they’re very different from Donald Trump and his behavior,” Hochul said on the “Cats Roundtable” on WABC 770 radio.
The New York governor added that she will not second-guess Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s determination of the size of the fine against the city’s most famous developer, nor should she.
“The governor of New York does not have a say in the size of a fine. And we want to make sure we don’t have that level of interference,” said Hochul — who has sometimes chided prosecutors and judges over enforcement of changes to the state’s controversial bail law.
“You do not want me as governor to be telling judges that I’m going to overrule their decisions. We need a clear separation of powers,” the governor added to host John Catsimatidis, a city supermarket billionaire who raised concerns that the Trump decision could chill commerce in the Big Apple.
Hochul noted that New York merchants “by and large are honest people” who follow the rules and the law and therefore have nothing to worry about.
“This judge determined that Donald Trump did not follow the rules,” the governor said.
Legal experts speculated that Trump might have to hold a firesale of his company’s prized properties in Manhattan, Westchester County and the Hudson Valley — including Trump Tower — to raise money to pay the fine while he appeals the ruling.
Here’s the latest coverage of Donald Trump’s $355M civil fraud trial ruling
Judge Engoron on Friday ordered the former president to cough up the mind-boggling fine — while also temporarily banning him from doing business in the state where he made his name — after determining Trump inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to dupe banks and insurers.
Even before the ruling, the Trump Organization had sold off its Ferry Point golf course in The Bronx to Bally’s.
On other matters, Hochul said she would:
-Back legislation to boost penalties against reckless riders of e-bikes, scooters and cyclists.
“Public safety also includes not just getting shot, not just getting your Apple phone stolen out of your pocket while you are on the subway, it also means you’re not going to get hit by one of these errant” scooters or cyclists,” she said.
-Oppose an MTA subway and bus fare hike, saying, “No increases go up without coming through me.
“We’re not going to any major [fare] increases to bail out the [transit] system any longer,” Hochul said. “We cannot keep doing that. … We’re trying to encourage people to take the trains and subways. That’s how we will deal with the crisis we have.”
-Make her top public safety priority in the 2024 legislative session approving tougher measures to combat retail theft, including against thieves who assault store employees, as was spelled out in her previous policy agenda.
“We’ve done an amazing job driving down gun violence and shootings, and murders,” the governor said. “I’m not going to rest until people stop committing even the retail theft. But I do need the legislature to get it over the finish line.”
-Oppose any effort by fellow Democrats in the legislature to raise taxes. Her proposed $233 billion budget plan does not include any broad-based tax hikes.
