Business Titans Blast Trump Verdict, Warn NYC Faces Economic Fallout

High-profile business leaders have criticized the justice system after former President Donald Trump was found guilty last week on all 34 counts in his hush money trial.

Billionaire business owner John Catsimatidis and real estate mogul Grant Cardone both criticized the verdict, saying it puts New York City in danger of losing business. Catsimatidis made his comments on Fox Business's "Mornings with Maria."

"If they can do this to a businessperson like Donald Trump, they could do it to anybody in New York and a lot of businesses," Catsimatidis said. "The city was shocked. The country was shocked, and it was just mind-boggling. People texted me that they just got home and their wives were crying. We have to bring back the rule of law."

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Cardone, who has already pulled his business out of New York after Trump was fined $355 million in a New York civil fraud case, said no one wants to do business in the city anymore and that the political system has been "weaponized."

"I have 15,000 investors with me at Cardone Capital. We've raised $1.3 billion," Cardone said. "If I went to them today and said, ‘I want to invest in New York City,' they would not give me money to do that."

Trump, the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime, faces a maximum sentence of 136 years. Each of the 34 counts carries a maximum four-year prison sentence.

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Catsimatidis, chairman and CEO of Red Apple Group and United Refining Co., said Trump seemed to be in "good spirits" at a dinner they attended. He mentioned that people at the dinner gave Trump advice about who the next vice president should be.

Catsimatidis told the former president he should go further, announce his entire Cabinet, and run as a team.

"Because we've got to take back America," Catsimatidis said. "We have to change the world. And President Donald Trump is the only one that has the courage, actually, to make a difference in the world. And that message has to go through."

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