As former president Donald Trump While he faces a hefty fundraising effort from the Democrats, a persistent burden on his campaign’s coffers may soon ease: legal costs.
A new report shows that the Save America political action committee paid about $827,000 for Trump’s legal fees in June – the first time in two years that the monthly total has fallen below $1 million. The Trump-aligned PAC has spent an average of nearly $4 million a month on such costs since July 2022, most of it defending the former president in criminal and civil cases, according to an Associated Press analysis of campaign finance records.
It is not surprising that Save America has seen such a decline. Trump’s week-long hush money trial ended in May – with a conviction — and the former president has had a string of lucky breaks in two federal criminal cases that are unlikely to go to trial anytime soon, if ever. A fourth case in Georgia is also pending.
The funds once needed to finance those court battles can now be spent on the election campaign, which has now entered a critical phase. On Sunday, President Joe Biden withdrew from the race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him at the top of the Democratic ticket, effectively restarting the campaign. Trump has said he should be reimbursed for the money his campaign spent against Biden.
The Democrats have gathered around Harriswhose campaign has received at least $126 million in donations since Wednesday, a staggering sum that is nearly half the amount raised by Biden’s re-election effort in the entire second quarter. Another $150 million Future Forward was promisedan outside group that supports the Democrats.
Although the amount Save America pays for lawyers is relatively small compared to modern campaign methods, every dollar counts in a tough election campaign, experts say.
“It’s going to be a close election, and the money that can be spent on lawyers now is helpful,” said Republican strategist Alex Conant.
Trump’s campaign saw a surge in donations following his conviction on May 31. The Trump campaign has not publicly disclosed how much it raised following the conviction on July 13. Attack on a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, but it is expected to be a substantial sum.
The drop in legal costs follows a New York jury’s decision to find Trump guilty on 34 counts of concealing a hush-money payment to prevent porn star Stormy Daniels from speaking publicly about an alleged sexual encounter with the president-elect during the 2016 election campaign. Trump denies any wrongdoing and is appealing the verdict.
The former president is also Appeal of a New York civil judgment for fraud totaling nearly $500 million that threatens to deplete his personal cash reserves. A judge found in February that Trump and his company had schemed for years to inflate his wealth through financial statements designed to obtain cheap loans and close deals.
Trump has otherwise at least temporarily avoided legal problems that would have complicated his campaign activities this summer and fall. A federal judge on July 15 a federal lawsuit against Trump dismissed for illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith has appealed this decision.
And last month, the Supreme Court largely sided with Trump in Granting comprehensive immunity to presidents from prosecution, hampering Smith’s plans to try the former president on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. A fourth criminal case, involving state-level charges in Georgia, is stuck in appeals.
“He was somewhat hampered by the litigation in terms of fundraising,” said Doug Heye, a Republican strategist. “Trump couldn’t hold an event in Dallas on Wednesday and Miami on Thursday. He was stuck in New York. That’s no longer the case.”
Trump’s political action committee, Save America, has paid at least $83 million since January 2022 to more than 80 law firms and individual attorneys representing him and current and former associates. Federal Election CommissionRecords show that these expenditures make up the bulk of the PAC’s spending, and it has become the primary channel for raising and spending money on Trump’s legal defense.
Campaign finance experts say using the money to pay lawyers in cases unrelated to the campaign or the officeholder’s duties could run afoul of a federal ban on the private use of fundraising money, although the Federal Election Commission has ruled that the ban does not apply to so-called political leadership action committees such as Save America. The Trump campaign argues the legal cases are inherently political and tied to his candidacy.
The Trump campaign declined to answer specific questions about legal fees, but criticized the decision to file criminal and civil lawsuits as politically motivated. Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement that the campaign believed Democrats had “used the justice system as a weapon against their main political opponent at the height of the presidential campaign.”
Despite the easing of legal pressure, Trump’s lawyers still have a lot of work to do.
Ciara Torres-SpelliscyProfessor at Stetson University College of Law in Florida, said Trump’s lawyers would argue with prosecutors in the New York case about whether and how the Supreme Court immunity rulingIf the case survives these arguments, Trump’s lawyers will have to prepare for sentencing, for which no date has yet been set.
In the meantime, lawyers will try to limit the rest of the election-rigging charges. The Supreme Court ruling requires U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington to assess which allegations are now off-limits for Smith’s prosecutors. His lawyers will also fight an appeal by Smith seeking to overturn U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s dismissal of the classified documents case.
“Trump will still rack up legal fees,” Torres-Spelliscy said, “but less than during his trial, since court hearings are the most expensive for defendants.”