Trump biographer raises questions about his wealth as campaign donors foot the bill for his many lawyers

Former President Donald Trump’s PACs have spent about $50 million in donor money on his legal bills last year, sources told The New York Times.

The “staggering sum” spent by Trump on his legal fees and investigation-related expenses is about the same amount his lone remaining GOP primary opponent Nikki Haley raised across all her committees last year, the Times’ Maggie Haberman and Shane Goldmacher write. Federal Election Commission filings this week are expected to detail the full extent of Trump’s “enormous financial strain,” they added.

Trump, who has a penchant for relying on campaign donations to pay his lawyers if he actually pays them at all, has used his Save America PAC to cover his legal costs. When the PAC ran low on cash last year, Trump asked for an unusual refund of $60 million that had been transferred to the pro-Trump MAGA Inc. PAC. Trump has also been directing 10% of donations raised through Save America to a PAC that primarily pays his lawyers, according to the Times.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    American justice system in a nutshell.

    Guy can be found to have done sexual assault, but criminal prosecutors wouldn’t touch him because he did it in a city where his close personal friend was the mayor. It took 30 years to reach a judgement against him, and even that was for a relatively piddly sum given the time and effort involved in the pursuit. The thing that really got Trump in trouble wasn’t the act of physical and sexual violence. It wasn’t the defamation that followed. It was the way he and his lawyer were shitty on the stand in a second trial resulting from his remarks on the results of the first trial.

    This is what it takes to bring a rich man to something approaching the possibility justice in America. And even after all this bullshit, there’s almost zero chance that a Florida court or Sheriff’s Department will assist Carroll in collecting on the damages because… Trump is close personal friends with the governor.

    • samus12345@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Trump is close personal friends with the governor.

      They’re definitely not friends. They just follow the same hateful ideology and will put their differences aside for it.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Now that Trump’s the inevitably nominee, Ron’s falling back into brown-noser mode and will do everything in his power to get Trump to like him. And even if DeSantis wasn’t bending over backwards to please the party’s kingpin, he wouldn’t be terribly inclined to aid a New York feminist and advice columnist in pursuing legal action against The Don.

        • samus12345@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Yup, he’s putting his dislike of Trump aside for the sake of advancing the Christofascist agenda.