Trump political operation steers $130 million in donor money to cover legal fees

This article originally appeared in OpenSecrets. Sign up for their weekly newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

Groups in former President Donald Trump’s political network have reported using about $130 million in donor funds to pay lawyers and cover legal costs since he first began running for office, according to a new OpenSecrets analysis.

As the former president faces mounting legal issues, his political operation steered more money than ever into covering legal fees.

The former president appeared in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday as a criminal defendant in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

On Aug. 1, 2023, a Washington, D.C., grand jury approved an indictment to charge Trump with conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy against rights and conspiracy to defraud the U.S.

Smith’s investigation and indictment of Trump followed the work of the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 Attack, which referred Trump to the Justice Department for prosecution in December 2022.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all four federal charges in court on Thursday but is also embroiled in several other legal battles.

ALSO READ: Trump impeachment manager on indictment: 'Damning, damning, damning'

In Florida, Trump additionally faces 40 felony counts after Smith’s separate special counsel investigation into the former president’s handling of classified documents since leaving the White House. On Aug. 10, Trump is scheduled for an arraignment in Florida in the superseding indictment brought by Smith in his probe into the classified documents case.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is also expected to seek a grand jury indictment in the coming weeks after an investigation into Trump’s 2020 election interference in Georgia.

In New York, Trump faces another 34 felony charges related to falsifying records around hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels with a criminal trial slated to kick off in March 2024. On Aug. 1, New York Attorney General Letitia James also announced it will proceed with a separate civil trial stemming from its $250 million lawsuit alleging Trump, his family and business engaged in Fraud.

Some watchdog groups have raised questions about whether the former president should be continuing to use donor funds to pay his lawyers now that his main political operation is his 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump, meanwhile, has capitalized on the legal turmoil and fundraised heavily off of his indictments to raise more money.

Trump’s campaign and joint fundraising committee raised over $15 million in the two weeks after the former president was indicted in March, Politico first reported. Of the $18.8 million his campaign and joint fundraising committee raised between Jan. 1 and March 31, about $4 million was raised after Trump was indicted on March 30 by a Manhattan grand jury on charges related to the Stormy Daniels hush money case stemming from the 2016 presidential election.

Source: OpenSecrets

Excluding transfers between groups, offsets and refunds, Trump’s political operation has raised about $67 million since the start of this year and ended June with about $71 million in cash on hand at their disposal.

But the Save America PAC reported just $30.2 million in total disbursements during the first half of 2023 with $21.6 million of that — more than 71% of its gross spending — going to legal costs. The Save America PAC ended June with $3.6 million cash on hand.

While the Save America PAC’s legal spending did not reach the amounts some had projected — multiple prominent news outlets reported ahead of the July 31 filing deadline that Save America was expected to disclose another $40.2 million in legal spending — Trump’s political operation is collectively spending unprecedented sums on legal fees in 2023.

Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign is the most directly tied to Trump but the operation has also included his leadership PAC, joint fundraising committees and super PACs run by Trump allies.

The Trump-aligned groups collectively spent about $27 million on lawyers and other legal costs during the first half of 2023, according to OpenSecrets’ analysis.

Trump’s political operation has doubled-down on its legal spending every year since 2021.

ALSO READ: Grift alert: Scammers register fake Donald Trump legal defense fund with federal regulators

The $26.8 million that Trump’s political operation spent on lawyers and other legal costs during the first half of 2023 is already more than the $23.3 million it spent over the entire prior year, and more than double the roughly $10.4 million groups in Trump’s political operation spent in 2021. The operation spent more than $37.5 million on legal costs in 2020, the year of Trump’s last presidential run, OpenSecrets’ analysis of FEC expenditure data found.

The Make America Great Again PAC doled out $3.9 million on legal costs over the first half of 2023, more than half of its $6 million in gross spending during that time. The PAC ended June with less than $570,000.

Trump’s own campaign directly paid about $622,000 to lawyers and law firms during the first half of 2023, a small slice of its $13.5 million in gross spending during that time. The campaign ended June with $22.5 million cash on hand.

During the first half of 2023, Trump’s Save America joint fundraising committee spent more than $216,000 on legal costs. The joint fundraising committee ended June with about $5.7 million cash on hand.

Other nodes in Trump’s network also allocated smaller sums on legal costs in 2023 while devoting their resources to more traditional political purposes such as media, events and consulting costs.

Senior Researcher Brendan Glavin contributed to this report.

This article is part of a series that is funded in part by a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism that follows the money around Jan. 6, 2021, and the spread of election misinformation.

OpenSecrets is a nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit research and news organization tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy.