As any common-sense person knows, the Letitia James-Arthur Engoron ruling against President Trump was nothing more than political persecution. As Byron York wrote today, Ms. James as New York’s attorney general has been campaigning for years to bring financial and political ruin on Mr. Trump.

As she said herself: “No one is above the law, including this illegitimate president and, so, I look forward to going into the office of AG every day suing him, defending your rights.”

By the way, why isn’t that fomenting insurrection? This was in 2018, and Ms. James found her cat’s paw in Judge Engoron, who is basically a Democratic clubhouse politician.

Meanwhile, regarding the facts of the case, there were no victims, no damages, no consumer complaints. There were satisfied banks and other lenders who made a ton of money doing business with the Trump Organization.

Mr. Trump hired tens of thousands of people and paid more than $300 million in taxes to the city and state of New York. He virtually changed the skyline of the city. He once rebuilt the Wollman Skating Rink in Central Park, something New York politicians spent years failing to do, and then gave great happiness to parents and their kids all over the city in the process.

But, as these left-wing Democrats weaponize their arsenal of judicial power, they have imposed draconian conditions, even on Mr. Trump’s appeal process.  As a non-lawyer, my understanding is that, in order to get to the New York appellate court, Mr. Trump must post some kind of “guaranteed surety” bond in order to cover payment if the trial judgment is ever affirmed.

This would be a bond secured with collateral, like cash or letters of credit from banks or other investment-type assets, including real estate. Essentially, and bear with me on this folks, one party has to guarantee another party’s obligation to a third party. 

Making this potentially even more difficult, the Engoron decision bans any borrowing from New York banks. I don’t know if that allows insurance companies or not to guarantee a bond. The sum-total here could be up to $450 million including interest, and then presumably the money for the bond is deposited to the court and held in escrow pending the actual appeal.

These hyper-punitive conditions illustrate again the nature of the political prosecution the New York Democrats are imposing on Mr. Trump. There is no proportionality to what this weaponized court has done. That is why an eminent jurist, Jonathan Turley, has called this “insidious.”

Where exactly did this number of $355 million, plus another hundred million for interest, come from? Nobody knows. It’s arbitrary. It could have well come from the White House. It could have well come from the Oval Office, where President Biden and his cronies would love to throw Mr. Trump in jail for 700 years and take his businesses away and rob him of his money.

Political prosecution, Soviet-style, is what this is. Of course, the decision like this will deter or prevent businesses from coming into New York, city or state. That’s the easy part — free choice.

Yet where is President Trump’s free choice? Where is his freedom? His freedom to start a business, run a business, succeed in business, spread prosperity everywhere he goes? Where is his free speech?

Where is Donald Trump’s right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness? Certainly not in the Letitia James-Arthur Engoron court.

From Mr. Kudlow’s broadcast on Fox Business Network.