Trump spent $10M from his PAC on legal bills
Former President Donald Trump, who throughout his business career had a reputation for not paying lawyers, spent roughly $10 million from his political action committee on his own legal fees last year, federal election filings show.
The money that went to Trump's legal bills was part of more than $16 million that Trump's PAC, Save America, spent for legal-related payments in 2021 and 2022, the filings show.
Some of the $16 million appears to have been for lawyers representing witnesses in investigations related to Trump's efforts to cling to power. But the majority of it — about $10 million — went to firms directly representing Trump in a string of investigations and lawsuits, including some related to his company, the filings showed.
Trump was well-known in New York City before winning the presidency in 2016 for refusing to pay his bills to a wide range of service providers and contractors. Lawyers were no exception, with Trump often saying people got free advertising by being involved with him.
The recent spending related to Trump is notable not just for the sheer volume — it represented about 19% of the PAC's total expenditures outside of transfers to one of his other political committees and those backing other candidates — but also because Trump is now a declared candidate for president again.
Some campaign finance experts are raising questions about whether, as a candidate, Trump can continue to use the PAC to pay for his personal legal bills.
According to some campaign finance experts, having the PAC continue to pay his legal bills now that he is a candidate would be seen as a contribution to him, and therefore be subject to legal limits.
“Payments by a PAC that exceed the contribution limit are contributions to the candidate and are unlawful,” said Jason Torchinsky, a campaign finance expert and lawyer with the firm Holtzman Vogel, referring to the limit on individual donations to candidates, which is set at $3,300 for the current two-year political cycle.