On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump obtained a bond to cover the $175 million bond in his New York fraud case. The Knight Specialty Insurance Company will hold the bond. The company is owned by California's "King of Subprime Auto Loans" Don Hankey. While Hankey is a Trump supporter and donor, he said Tuesday in an interview with the Daily Mail that he has not met Trump personally.

Hankey had been approached earlier regarding the original $460 million bond but was only able to make the deal after the amount was reduced by the appeals court.

'It was much easier, because he put up all cash,' he said. Hankey departed from an earlier report that said Trump provided collateral in cash and investment grade bonds.

'He first gave us a list of bonds and we approved the bonds as collateral along with some cash. When the collateral was finally posted it appears to be all cash. We have a screen shot of it and it was all cash.'

Asked why Trump didn't simply pay the award himself, he said the transaction allows Trump to collect interest if the $175 million is invested in a money market or other allowable investment vehicle while being held in a trust account pending appeal.

He said he said he didn't have any concerns about lending to Trump, who declared bankruptcy over his Atlantic City casinos decades ago.

'If the appeal is lost or we have to come up with cash, with a bond you only have about 24 hours to come up with the cash,' he said. 'If you have real estate it can take months to liquidate the real asset.'

Previously on RedState: Trump's Net Worth Surges on a Day That Was Expected to Bring Financial Doom 

BREAKING: Trump Posts $175 Million Bond to Proceed With Appeal in NY Civil Fraud Case

Mr. Hankey stated in the interview that, while he was a Trump supporter, he had never met the former President or spoken with him.

'I’d never met Donald Trump. I’d never talked to him on the phone. I heard that he needed a loan or a bond, and this is what we do,' he told Forbes. 'Yes, I voted for him in the past, but this is a business deal and this is what we do. I have never met Donald Trump, nor talked to him on the phone,' said Hankey.

He gave $2,700 to Trump's presidential campaign in 2016, along with a series of state parties and $32,400 to the Republican Party back in 2013. His wife has also donated to Trump. 

The advantage Donald Trump has in putting up cash in collateral for a bond is that he can continue to earn interest on the deposited cash while the legal case unfolds, whereas if he had posted the cash bond himself that money would have been effectively out of reach for as long as it took this case to reach a conclusion. This can happen even as the money is held in a trust account pending judgement.

None of this seems to be hurting Trump's bid to Grover Cleveland himself into being only the second U.S. President to win a second, non-consecutive term. Donald Trump is still polling ahead of President Biden in most surveys, his legal issues notwithstanding. The RealClearPolitics average as of this writing shows former President Trump ahead of President Biden by one point, with Trump leading the way in all key swing states.