Trump's $500 million fraud penalty gets thrown out.
Tangle
Isaac Saul
4.7 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 26 August 2025
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On Thursday, a New York appeals court threw out a $527 million penalty against President Donald Trump resulting from a 2024 civil fraud judgment. The five-justice panel unanimously agreed to dismiss the fine but disagreed on other points, ultimately deciding to leave the other penalties against Trump in place — including barring Trump from serving in top roles at any New York company for three years, extending a similar ban to his sons (Eric and Donald Jr.) for two years, and installing an independent monitor for the Trump Organization.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From executive producer Isaac Saul, this is Tangle. |
| 0:12.5 | Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, and welcome to the Tangle Podcast, the place you get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking, and a little bit of my take. |
| 0:27.7 | I'm your host, Isaac Saul, and on today's episode, we're going to be talking about the voided civil fraud penalty against President Donald Trump. |
| 0:36.3 | We're going to break down exactly what happened, |
| 0:38.6 | revisit some writing of mine from the past, |
| 0:41.3 | and then, of course, share some views from the left and the right. |
| 0:45.2 | Today is Tuesday, August 26th, |
| 0:47.8 | and I'm going to send it over to John to break down |
| 0:51.0 | some of the big stories in the news and today's main topic. And I'll be back for my take. |
| 1:02.4 | Thanks, Isaac, and welcome, everybody. Here are your quick hits for today. First up, President |
| 1:07.5 | Donald Trump announced he will fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, |
| 1:11.4 | citing allegations of mortgage fraud. |
| 1:13.8 | Trump's legal authority to remove Cook is unclear, and Cook said she would not leave the position. |
| 1:19.6 | Number two, President Trump signed an executive order directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth |
| 1:24.3 | to create specialized units in the National Guard to respond to public order issues. |
| 1:29.9 | Separately, the president signed an executive order directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to identify |
| 1:34.9 | jurisdictions that have eliminated cash bail, then pause or eliminate their federal funding. |
| 1:40.7 | Separately, Trump signed an executive order calling for penalties for people who burn the American flag in a manner that is likely to incite imminent lawless action. |
| 1:49.9 | Number three, Israeli tank shelling on Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip killed at least 20 people, including five journalists. |
| 1:58.1 | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel deeply regrets the tragic |
| 2:02.1 | mishap and is investigating the incident. Number four, thousands of homes in California and |
| 2:07.7 | Oregon are under evacuation orders and warnings due to ongoing fires. And number five, a federal |
... |
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