Since leaving office, former President Donald J. Trump has spent more than $100 million on various investigations, prosecutions, and legal fees and other costs to avoid future criminal trials, according to a New York Times review of federal records. It's here.
This staggering amount means Trump has spent an average of more than $90,000 a day in legal fees over three years, none of which he paid with his own money. .
Instead, the former president has relied almost entirely on donations made to fight the 2020 election results.
Those accounts are now nearly depleted, and Mr. Trump faces the choice of starting to pay his own hefty legal bills or finding another way to raise money.
November 2020 to early 2021
Mr. Trump called on his supporters to create an “election defense fund” and raised an astonishing $254 million online between November 4, 2020, the day after the election, and January 20, 2021, the day of President Biden's inauguration. Raised funds.
The donations came in so quickly that on Nov. 9, Trump created a new political action committee, Save America, to keep all the cash.
But only a small portion was used for election recounts and other legal challenges. Some consulted Trump's lawyers during his second impeachment in connection with the Jan. 6 riot.
But Trump kept much of his cash in banks.
Remaining of 2021
Mr. Trump began using the money to finance his post-presidential political activities and his eventual sprawling legal team. In February, President Trump changed the name of the 2020 committee to “MAGA PAC.”
By the end of 2021, Save America, which continued to attract new donations, held a significant portion of Mr. Trump's donations, $105 million.
2022
Both Save America and MAGA PAC spent significant amounts of money on legal fees and other related expenses in 2022. The House of Representatives held impeachment hearings. The FBI searched Mar-a-Lago for missing classified documents in August. Trump's legal costs have risen.
Trump spent about $27.2 million a year on legal expenses.
Trump faced a predicament as he prepared to announce his 2024 candidacy in late 2022. The PAC cannot directly spend money to elect him president. So Save America sent $60 million to a pro-Trump super PAC called MAGA Corporation.
2023
Save America started 2023 with $18.3 million. But Trump's legal costs were about to rise. He was first indicted in New York in March 2023. Three more charges followed.
Mr. Trump spent nearly $60 million on legal and investigative expenses, including attorneys, document preparation companies, and expert witnesses in Mr. Trump's New York civil fraud case.
Early last year, Mr. Trump pivoted to putting more money into Save America, the PAC that had been paying for his lawsuits. Initially, he donated 1 cent of every dollar he raised online to Save America. The rest was earmarked for the 2024 election campaign. But Save America didn't have enough money to pay lawyers, so he raised that amount to 10%.
It still wasn't enough. By June 2023, Save America had less than $4 million in cash on hand. In an unusual move, Mr. Trump asked the super PAC to return the $60 million it gave Save America several months ago so it could continue paying its legal costs.
By the end of 2023, more than $42 million had been returned to Save America from his super PAC.
2024
Trump's legal costs continue to mount as he approaches his first trial in a New York case related to hush-money payments to a porn star in 2016. He spent at least $9.7 million in January and February.
The more than $100 million in legal spending since leaving office does not include spending from Trump's 2024 campaign, which has not paid for personal legal fees.
His super PAC returned an additional $10 million in January and February to cover ongoing legal costs. However, he is currently only able to refund $7.75 million. Save America had less than $4 million in balances at the end of February, including outstanding debt.
The Trump campaign said the Republican National Committee would not pay his legal costs. But a new community fundraising agreement he has struck with his party will direct some donations to his Save America PAC before the party.
Still, the account that pays Trump's legal fees will likely run out of money by summer at the current pace of spending.
In that case, Trump will have to make a decision. Whose money will be used to pay the lawyers?
methodology
Data comes from the following FEC filings since 2020: Trump's 2020 Campaign Committee (renamed Make America Great Again PAC). President Trump's 2024 Campaign Committee. Leadership PAC Save America. Make America Great Again Inc. Super PAC. Community Chest Committees “Trump Make America Great Again Committee'' and “Trump Save America Community Chest Committee.'' Fundraising platform WinRed.
Litigation costs were aggregated from all expenditures matching the term “legal” and certain expenditures matching the terms “documents” and “investigations” that were determined to be related to ongoing litigation and investigations. The 2024 figure includes his 2024 legal debt owed by Save America that was unpaid at the end of February.
Annual donations were calculated by WinRed's reported online donations for Trump's 2020 and 2024 campaigns, Trump-aligned leadership committees, and Trump-controlled joint fundraising committees.