Former US President Donald Trump is spending millions of dollars in his legal battles that threaten his efforts to win the presidential elections, and some funding sources may be rapidly depleting. And Trump does not lack cash, as his joint fundraising committee obtained $ 54 million in the first half of 2023, more than any major Republican competitor in the elections expected next year. However, critics say that the new financial documents show how his successive legal troubles are filling a hole in his coffers, when they could be devoted to television advertisements or festivals and other events of his campaign to win a second presidential term.
This week, Trump’s political action committee, Save America, revealed that it had reached its final $4 million at the end of June, a paltry amount in financial terms for campaigning, after spending more than $20 million on legal fees.
Trump has ample room to spend large sums of money on attorneys’ fees, which are not criminal offenses, but observers in Washington circles wonder whether campaign donors are expected to pay those sums. “If you send the money to Trump, it’s almost going to pay for his personal legal cases,” said conservative lawyer and political writer AG Hamilton. He added, “This also means that he will have practically nothing left to spend on competing with the Democrats in crucial states.”
And the recent accusations against Trump against the backdrop of his efforts to overturn the election results will put additional pressure on resources, with new legal bills that are the largest on the shoulders of the Political Action Committee, at a time when the billionaire was charged in Florida, New York and Washington.
The Republican National Committee paid most of Trump’s legal costs until November last year, but stopped doing so as he launched his campaign for the 2024 presidential election.
The balance of his various political operations amounts to about $ 32 million in banks, months before the start of the electoral council meetings (Cox) in Iowa in January, which is the first for the nomination competitions in the Republican primary elections. Most of the money Trump collects goes directly to his election campaign, and 10% goes to the “Save America” committee, which pays legal fees to any person involved in investigations in Trump’s circles.
And the Political Action Committee, known as PAC, which raises most of its money from very small donations, reported to the Federal Election Commission that it paid $21.6 million to law firms that defend Trump and his allies this year, $5 million more than their total legal bills in 2021. and 2022.
The reality TV star enters the primaries with 78 criminal charges in three separate lawsuits, which Forbes has estimated could cost $2.5 billion.
He is expected to appear in court in New York next March, on charges that he paid money to “silence” a pornographic actress. He is expected to be tried two months later, on the grounds of his dealings with national security secrets.
He will appear in court on Thursday for a preliminary hearing on charges that he sought to interfere in the elections. It is also expected that prosecutors will file similar charges against him in a separate case related to the state of Georgia (south).
Trump launched the “Save America” committee after losing the presidential election to Joe Biden. In two months, he collected $250 million from supporters who asked to contribute to an “electoral defense fund” to challenge the results. The emails used “dangerous and inflammatory” language that said the donations could help “stop theft” (of the elections), according to a report by a congressional committee investigating Trump’s conduct during the elections. None of that money went to costs associated with recounting and contesting the results, and the large remaining sums were divided between funding the Republican National Committee and bolstering Trump’s political battle coffers.
“In short, President Trump and his campaign ripped off supporters by raising more than $250 million by claiming they wanted to fight fraud they knew did not exist and challenge an election they knew he lost,” the congressional committee wrote.
• The recent accusations leveled against Trump over his efforts to overturn the election results will put additional pressure on resources, with new legal bills being the largest on the shoulders of the Political Action Committee.
• The reality TV star is entering the primaries, with 78 criminal charges in three separate lawsuits that Forbes has estimated could cost $2.5 billion.
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2023-08-03 22:06:48
