As a former president Donald Trump As Trump faces an intense fundraising effort from the Democratic Party, a persistent burden on his campaign coffers may be starting to ease: legal expenses.
A new report shows that the Save America political action committee paid about $827,000 in June for Trump’s legal bills — the first time its monthly total has fallen below $1 million in two years. The Trump-aligned super PAC has spent an average of nearly $4 million a month on such costs since July 2022, much of it defending the former president in criminal and civil cases, according to an Associated Press analysis of campaign finance records.
It’s no surprise that Save America’s ratings have fallen this low. Trump’s weeks-long impeachment trial on charges of making false statements ended in May. Belief The former president has had a string of good fortune in two federal criminal cases that won’t be prosecuted anytime soon, if ever. A fourth case in Georgia is still pending.
Money that would once have been needed to fund those court battles could instead be spent on the campaign, which is entering a critical phase. On Sunday, President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him at the top of the Democratic ticket, effectively restarting the race. Trump has said he should be reimbursed for the money his campaign spent against Biden.
Democrats have They gathered around Harris.where his campaign has since received at least $126 million in donations as of Wednesday, a staggering amount that is roughly half of what Biden’s reelection effort raised in the entire second quarter. An additional $150 million The future has been pledged forward.an outside group that supports the Democratic ticket.
Although the amount Save America pays lawyers is relatively small in modern campaign terms, every dollar counts in a competitive race, experts say.
“This is going to be a close election, and to the extent that the money for lawyers can now be spent on organizers, that’s a benefit,” said Republican strategist Alex Conant.
Trump’s campaign saw a surge in donations after his May 31 conviction. The Trump campaign has not publicly announced how much it raised after his July 13 conviction. Assassination attempt at a mass gathering In Butler, Pennsylvania, but the amount is expected to be large.
The drop in legal costs comes after a New York jury convicted Trump on 34 counts related to concealing a payment to prevent porn actress Stormy Daniels from publicly revealing during the 2016 campaign an alleged sexual encounter with the future president. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and is appealing the verdict.
The former president is also Appeal of nearly $500 million New York civil fraud verdict That threatens to drain his personal cash reserves. In February, a judge concluded that Trump and his company had planned for years to inflate his wealth on financial statements used to secure favorable loans and make deals.
Trump has avoided, at least temporarily, the legal troubles that could have complicated his ability to campaign this summer and fall. On July 15, a federal judge ruled that he was barred from running in the presidential election. Federal court issues indictment against Trump for illegally storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith is appealing the decision.
Last month, the Supreme Court mostly sided with Trump in Presidents granted broad immunity From the prosecution, which weighs on Smith’s plans to prosecute the former president on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. A fourth criminal case involving state charges in Georgia is mired in appeals.
“He’s been a little bit constrained by the trials when it comes to fundraising,” said Doug Hey, a Republican strategist. “Trump couldn’t do an event in Dallas on Wednesday and Miami on Thursday. He was stuck in New York. Now that’s not the case.”
Trump’s Save America super PAC has paid at least $83 million to more than 80 law firms and individual attorneys representing him and his current and former aides since January 2022, Federal Election CommissionRecords show that the spending makes up the majority of the PAC’s spending, and it has become the main channel for raising and spending money for Trump’s legal defense.
Campaign finance experts say using the money to pay attorneys’ fees in cases unrelated to the campaign or officeholders’ duties could run afoul of a federal ban on the personal use of donor funds, though the Federal Election Commission has ruled that the ban does not apply to so-called leadership political action committees like Save America. The Trump campaign has argued that the legal cases are political in nature and tied to his candidacy.
The Trump campaign declined to answer specific questions about the legal fees, but has criticized the decisions to file criminal and civil cases as politically motivated. Trump spokesman Stephen Cheung said in a statement that the campaign believes Democrats have “weaponized the justice system against their primary political opponent during 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-SpellissiA professor at Stetson University College of Law in Florida said Trump’s lawyers will battle with prosecutors in the New York case over whether and how the law should be applied. Supreme Court ruling on immunityIf the case succeeds in overcoming these arguments, Trump’s lawyers will have to prepare for the verdict, a date for which has not yet been set.
Meanwhile, lawyers will seek to reduce the remainder of the election interference indictment. The Supreme Court ruling by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington requires To evaluate the charges that are now off-limits to prosecutors in the Smith case. His lawyers will also fight an appeal by Smith to overturn U.S. District Judge Ellen Cannon’s decision to dismiss the classified documents case.
“Trump will still incur legal bills, but to a lesser extent than when he was on trial, because trial time is the most expensive for defendants,” Torres-Spellis said.
