POLITICS
Trump indictment: Who is paying his legal fees?
The former president has racked up an impressive number of criminal charges. His lawyers will have their work cut out to keep him out of prison.
Donald Trump is facing 41 criminal counts in successive court cases this year. Pleading not guilty to both, prepare for some drawn out battles that will play out with the presidential elections looming.
The former president has been arraigned for the second time this year. The first arraignment took place in April in New York City, where he faced charges of violating campaign finance laws.
The next question comes with how it will all be paid for. Trump has large personal wealth but his campaign wasted no time in fundraising on the back of his arrests.
“President Trump Raises Over $6.6 Million and Counting Since Deranged Jack Smith Announced Political Prosecution,” Trump’s campaign wrote in an email to supporters on Wednesday.
According to the New York Times, $10 million of PAC money has already been spent on legal funds this year. PAC stands for Political Action Committee. PACs are organizations that are formed to raise and spend money in order to support or oppose political candidates, parties, or specific policy issues.
PAC spending rules
There are rules around PAC spending are tightened around presidential elections. $16 million of legal costs were spent in 2021 and 2022, but as presidential campaigning had not started they could be spent as they wished. It could be argued that the cases are “campaign-related,” and get over the legal limit of $3,300.
“Trump’s lawyers could argue that the hush money case is a campaign-related activity expense because it has to do with him potentially influencing an election or he could make the argument that he’s being politically targeted because of his campaign,” explained the hosts of the Make It Smart podcast at Marketplace.org.