President Donald Trump, convicted on 34 felony counts, has remained free with the very product of America’s cash bail system that, for decades, has spared wealthy defendants from jail, while trapping the poor behind bars.
Now, he is working to end cashless bail reforms across the country.
Last week, Trump signed an executive order threatening to strip federal funding from states and cities that refuse to enforce cash bail. A separate directive will allow Washington, D.C., defendants to be charged under federal statutes to avoid the city’s long-standing bail reforms.
“As president, I will require commonsense policies that protect Americans’ safety and well-being by incarcerating individuals who are known threats,” the president wrote in an executive order. “It is therefore the policy of my administration that Federal policies and resources should not be used to support jurisdictions with cashless bail policies, to the maximum extent permitted by law.”
Critics note the contradiction between the president’s order and past is unmistakable.
In 2024, Trump stood trial for falsifying business records as part of a scheme to bury damaging information before the 2016 election. Jurors convicted him on 34 felonies after hearing from 22 witnesses and reviewing nearly 300 exhibits. Judge Juan Merchan issued an unconditional discharge — no prison time, no fines, no probation — 10 days before Trump was sworn in again as president.
For ordinary Americans, the outcome would have been very different. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found that more than 60% of pretrial detainees are jailed only because they cannot afford bail, and the burden falls disproportionately on Black and Latino communities.
“Those with assets accused of the same or similar crimes have the keys to the jailhouse door. They have their wallets,” Commissioner David Kladney said.
Yet Trump has turned the issue into a rallying cry. At a press conference, he claimed, “Somebody murders somebody and they’re out on no cash bail before the day is out.”
FactCheck.org determined the statement was false, pointing out that states with cashless bail exclude violent felonies like murder and that such releases are exceedingly rare. In Illinois, where the Pretrial Fairness Act eliminated cash bail in 2023, murders and robberies have declined, with Chicago reporting a 37 percent drop in homicides and a 36% drop in robberies compared to 2023.
Trump’s own survival through the criminal courts reveals the very inequity bail reform was designed to fix: The wealthy buy their way to freedom, while the poor wait in jail.
“Yet another racist and classiest attack on Black and poor communities,” social media user Daniel Redeffer wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.”When will Americans wake… up to the fact that we are at war with our own government?”
This story originally appeared here.