Trump's legal fees are sky high. An elaborate PAC scheme is helping pay them — for now

A pro-Trump super PAC has been transferring millions of dollars every month to the former president's fund for paying his ballooning legal bills. The transfers have kept the fund, Save America, afloat as it bled tens of millions of dollars on legal bills in the year since a New York grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump, the first in a wave of criminal indictments and civil judgments against him.

Save America, started days after Trump lost the 2020 election, is a type of fund called a "leadership PAC" that can only accept $5,000 per election cycle from each donor, but has few restrictions on how it spends money. It is being funded by Make America Great Again Inc., or MAGA Inc., a super PAC that started in 2022 and can raise unlimited amounts of money.

In the past, Save America’s highest spending involved audio-visual expenses for Trump’s public appearances, and donations to other groups, including MAGA Inc. But the money Save America spent on legal bills, including to firms that represent him in civil and criminal cases, has skyrocketed in the past two years.

So MAGA Inc. has stepped in to bail out Save America by paying it back. It sent $5 million at the beginning of every month from last July through February to Save America, totaling $40 million, in addition to $12.3 million that MAGA Inc. transferred in May and June, according to records from the Federal Election Commission.

It’s more money than MAGA Inc. has spent on independent expenditures, such as advertisements for Trump and against opponents like South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, since it started in 2022. That totaled $50.5 million since the beginning of 2023, compared to $52.3 million in transfers to Save America since May.

“It’s hard for me to think of another example where this has happened,” said Daniel Weiner, the director of elections and government at the Brennan Center for Justice, an advocacy group on democracy law based at New York University.

MAGA Inc. is sending the money to Save America to refund the $60 million it donated to MAGA Inc. in 2022 while it was on a spending spree. It would be illegal for the super PAC to simply donate its unlimited contributions to Save America, which has to follow federal contribution limits.

“This is certainly out of the ordinary,” Weiner said. “It was out of the ordinary for the leadership PAC to make a giant contribution to a super PAC, and now to do this kind of strange refund system, that is also something you would not normally see.”

Legal spending is tied to Trump’s civil, criminal cases

The transfer scheme has not provided a windfall for Save America, even though it raised more than $200 million since its creation. The PAC spent more than $64 million on legal bills through the end of report year 2023. Other money went to candidates during the 2022 election, outside organizations tied to former White House aides, and paying staff, even the former first lady’s fashion designer.

While public records can’t say what, specifically, law firms are being paid to do, records show Save America has paid more than 70 different lawyers and law firms, and many are listed on court paperwork representing Trump in his civil and criminal cases. And one lawyer who represented a Trump aide during the Jan. 6 Committee has said that Save America had an agreement with him.  Most recently, three of the four firms that submitted a court document saying he couldn’t pay a $454 million judgment in a fraud case against the Trump Organization — Habba Madaio & Associates LLP, Robert and Robert PLLC, and Continental PLLC — are some of Save America’s highest-paid firms.

"He appears to be spending an incredible amount of campaign finance money on legal expenses that range well beyond what would be considered campaign related,” said Michael Kang, a law professor at Northwestern University. “I doubt, however, that we’ll get to the bottom of all this until much later on." 

Leadership PACs like Save America were designed to help leaders in the House and Senate fund the campaigns of their allies. But there is gray area in the law that the Federal Election Commission has declined to close, making them virtual slush funds that have helped support public officials’ lavish lifestyles.

“I don’t think they were ever intended to be these kinds slush funds that could be used for, essentially the personal benefit of the officeholder sponsoring them,” Weiner said. “I’m not saying that any law has been broken. I think this is sort of a legal gray area.”

PACs hire lawyers regularly, but generally for other purposes. Lawyers often file paperwork with the Federal Election Commission, help candidates get on the ballot in various states, or even help get through a recount.

The Jan. 6 Committee dinged Trump for fundraising for an “Official Election Defense Fund” in the days after the 2020 election, when the fund didn’t exist and instead went to Save America. But Trump has more recently used his legal issues to ask his supporters for money, with the money going to a fundraising vehicle that currently pours into his 2024 campaign and Save America. (Campaign money cannot be used for personal expenses.)

After his March indictment, Trump’s fundraising arm sent out a photoshopped fake mugshot in an email seeking donations. Since Wednesday, Trump’s main fundraising arm has sent messages to supporters saying, “Democrats want to seize my properties,” referring to New York Attorney General Letitia James’ ability to seize his personal assets if he fails to pay the $454 million judgment in the Trump Organization case.   

To stave off collection while he appeals that verdict, Trump is required to put up the $454 million or a bond for it by Monday, which his lawyers described as a “practical impossibility.” But help may be on the way: a just-announced deal to take his social media platform, Truth Social, and its parent company public could generate more than $3 billion for him.

Meanwhile, much of Save America's money is coming from ordinary people. The fundraising arm brought in $50.5 million in donations smaller than $200 in 2023 alone, the latest information that is available from the Federal Election Commission.

Trump’s ‘drain on resources’ keeps him behind Biden

The enormous legal bills have caused Trump to fall behind in 2024 campaign fundraising, both in his own funds and the funds of the Republican National Committee, which is now under pressure to help Trump out of his legal jeopardy.

Republican consultant Alex Conant said money matters less in presidential politics than it used to. Trump led Biden by two percentage points in a USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll March 13 poll.

But the election likely will be decided by a small number of votes, so a significant spending advantage could make a difference and Trump’s legal issues are a “distraction and a drain on resources,” he added.

President Joe Biden’s campaign raised $21.3 million in February and spent $6.3 million, increasing its cash from $56 million at the end of January to $71 million at the end of February. In the same time period, Trump’s campaign collected $10.9 million and spent $7.8 million, increasing its cash from $30.5 million in January to $33.5 million.

The numbers show that Biden’s campaign is sitting on $37.5 million more cash than Trump’s, meaning that if the former president hadn’t spent more than $64 million on legal bills, and had instead put the money in his campaign account, he would have more money in the bank than the current president.

“I think both sides are going to have a lot of money, but if Trump has to divert a lot of his resources to his legal problems that’s money that’s not going to be spent on getting out the vote,” said Conant, who worked on U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign in 2016.

The Democratic National Committee, which is helping re-elect Biden, also continues to outpace the Republican National Committee, where Trump loyalists have taken hold. The DNC had $26.5 million in cash at the end of February, compared with $11.3 million for the RNC.

The campaign accounts and party committees provide an incomplete picture of the financial resources available to help the candidates. The fundraising arms both candidates use, who also called joint fundraising committees, are not required to provide an update on their finances until April 15.

Biden’s campaign announced this week that it raised $53 million through its various committees and the Democratic National Committee in February and had $155 million in available cash. Trump’s campaign did not announce joint fundraising committee numbers.

Trump and the RNC:Lara Trump says Republicans are willing to pay Donald Trump's legal bills

Trump will need a new way to pay legal bills going forward

Going forward, Trump will need a new fundraising scheme to pay his legal bills. That’s because MAGA Inc. can only refund up to $60 million back to Save America. It’s refunded $52.3 million through the end of February. At the current rate, the remaining $7.7 million would run out in mid-April.

MAGA Inc. may have that money. The super PAC saw a fundraising boost in February, when it raised $12.8 million last month, up from $7.4 million in January, and has $25.5 million in available cash. That increase was thanks in part to a $5 million donation from Robert Bigelow, a Las Vegas tycoon who believes aliens can be found on earth.

"You could wonder, 'Why aren't they just paying the legal bills from the super PAC?'" said Weiner, from the Brennan Center in New York. "But they must feel for whatever reason that it's more legally advantageous to pay the bills from the leadership PAC."

A new fundraising vehicle could come to the rescue. His allies have set up a new joint fundraising committee, called the Trump 47 Committee. It will divvy what it raises it among the Trump campaign, Save America, the Republican National Committee, a PAC called the Presidential Republican Nominee Fund 2024 and Republican committees in 37 states, Guam and the District of Columbia.

Contributing: Aysha Bagchi