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You think about America; the reason this is the number one economy on earth is that we have laws and we have due process and we have property rights. It attracts foreign capital from all around the world. All of that is being shaken to the core here.
The concept of seizing assets in 30 days on a bond number that’s never been issued — no insurance bond company’s ever issued anything near this, so there was no chance it was going to happen, and only giving 30 days’ notice in time — that’s a really bad message. And I think New Yorkers should think well past Trump, whether he’s president or not, or whether this attorney general is gone in four years or not — it’s irrelevant. This is case-setting against the American brand.
The most stable country on Earth, anywhere, to put capital to work over a long period of time, particularly real estate, is the United States of America. This is an assault on what we believe to be core, and I find it extraordinary, I think it’s very troubling.
This is an attack on America, and I don’t know how you can look at it any other way. And as an investor — and I know plenty of investors who are completely disturbed by this — but I mean, no one’s going to put any money to work in New York in these amounts until this thing settles down.
There is certainly an argument that Trump could make an emergency appeal for relief to a higher court, citing violations of the 8th Amendment (excessive fines) and the 14th Amendment (due process). But in the United States of America, it should never have gotten this far. And at this point, the rot in our legal system has become so advanced and reaches so high that there may no longer be any adults to call into the room.