Donald Trump has spent more than $100 million on lawyers and other legal costs associated with the various lawsuits and criminal charges filed against him, according to a new analysis.
The New York Times analysis found the former president spent more than $90,000 a day on average on legal costs for more than three years — although none of it was paid with his own money, but instead came almost entirely from donations raised as he fought against his 2020 election loss.
However, those accounts are nearly empty, so Trump must decide whether to pay his own staggering legal fees or find another source of financing.
Trump raised $254 million online between the day after the election, Nov. 4, 2020, and Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2021, as he directed his supporters to donate to an “election defense fund." On Nov. 9, 2020, he formed a new political action committee, Save America, to hold onto all the cash that was pouring in.
However, the Times analysis found that only a fraction of that money went toward recounts and other election challenges, but some went to his second impeachment lawyers while Trump banked most of the rest.
Trump renamed his 2020 committee to "MAGA PAC" and started using that money to pay for his post-presidential political operation and then his various legal teams, and Save America PAC held $105 million by the end of 2021.
Trump spent about $27.2 million on legal fees and other related expenses routed through Save America and MAGA PAC in 2022, when the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago and found missing classified documents, but Save America could not spend directly on his political campaign after announcing his 2024 candidacy and transferred $60 million to a pro-Trump super PAC called MAGA Inc.
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Save America started 2023 with $18.3 million on hand, but Trump's legal expenses began to soar that year as he was indicted in March 2023 in New York and three other times to follow.
The ex-president spent nearly $60 million on legal and associated costs, including lawyers, document production and an expert witness, and he made a change early last year to pour even more money into Save America PAC, which was paying those expenses.
One cent from every dollar Trump raised online went to that PAC, while the rest went to his 2024 campaign, but he upped that amount to 10 percent as Save America ran low on cash to pay for his lawyers.
Save America's cash dwindled to less than $4 million on hand by June 2023, so Trump asked MAGA Inc. for a refund of the $60 million in campaign cash he'd given about six months earlier and poured that into his legal defense.
He was able to return more than $42 million of that money to Save America by the end of last year, but his legal costs were about rise with his first trial looming in the New York hush-money case involving adult movie actress Stormy Daniels, and he spent at least $9.7 million in the first two months of this year.
To pay ongoing legal costs, his super PAC refunded another $10 million in January and February, but there's currently only $7.75 million left to return, and Save America had less than $4 million by the end of last month.
Trump and his family have effectively taken over the Republican National Committee, which his team says won't be paying his legal costs, but a new shared fundraising agreement directs a portion of GOP donations to Save America before the party gets a cut.
The Times found that Save America would likely be out of money by summer at current spending rates, so Trump may need to direct even more RNC funds his way to pay his ever-increasing legal costs.
