Trump’s PAC Has Just $5 Million in the Bank After Blowing $50 Million on Legal Fees
Mike Segar/Pool Photo via AP
Donald Trump’s political operation is reeling after spending around $60 million on legal fees pertaining to the four criminal indictments and various ongoing civil lawsuits against him.
Disclosures indicate that Trump’s campaign and the various political action committees supporting it blew through tens of millions of dollars in 2023, leaving him cash-strapped heading into 2024.
Save America PAC, Trump’s primary PAC heading into his likely rematch with President Joe Biden, once had over $100 million in the bank. Now, it has just a little over $5 million left after spending over $25 million on legal bills in the second half of last year alone.
🚨Trump’s Save America leadership PAC raised $6.6M and had $30M refunded by the MAGA, Inc. SuperPAC. It burned $35.2M (over $25M on legal fees, and another $110.5K to Melania’s stylist Herve Pierre Braillard for ‘strategy consulting’), ending w/$5.14M on hand. pic.twitter.com/3AnqCUIgSy
— Rob Pyers (@rpyers) February 1, 2024
Meanwhile, Make America Great Again PAC, which served the same function as Save America is now back in 2016 and 2020, spent $5.9 million in the back half of 2023, with $4 million of that going toward legal fees.
Here come the Trump FEC filings…first up, MAGA PAC (formerly his 2016/2020 campaign cmte). It received $5.9M from his Save America leadership PAC, spent $5.9M (including over $4M on legal fees), and had $572,828 remaining pic.twitter.com/zfTrsMmIlg
— Rob Pyers (@rpyers) February 1, 2024
Save America also paid out over $110,000 to Melania Trump’s stylist for “strategy consulting.”
Most troublingly of all for the former president, perhaps, is the fact that the Super PAC raised only $6.6 million between July and December, a possible indicator of failing enthusiasm for Trump’s candidacy or suspicion of his political operation.
His campaign itself, meanwhile, raised a little over $19 million, but spent over $23.5 million in the latest fundraising period.
Finally, the Trump 2024 campaign cmte brought in $19.1M in Q4 but burned $23.56M on operating expenditures, cutting its cash from $37.5M down to $33.1M.
Top expense categories: $7.6M on ads, $3.7M on legal consulting, $1.7M for Trump’s plane, $1.66M on event staging. pic.twitter.com/84NghQFbeD
— Rob Pyers (@rpyers) February 1, 2024
Trump’s legal troubles will likely continue to be a massive drain on his political operation in 2024 as he continues to contend with his four criminal cases against him, and appeals an order that he pay over $83 million out to E. Jean Carroll.
