Trump’s defense fund has spent more on Mar-a-Lago than on legal services: report

In July 2023, allies of Donald Trump established the Patriot Legal Defense Fund to help the former president and 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner pay down his legal bills. Trump was already facing two criminal indictments at the time, and that number increased to four the following month.

According to a report by the Daily Beast's Roger Sollenberger published on December 12, however, the Patriot Legal Defense Fund "appears to have placed its spending priorities in a strange place: Mar-a-Lago."

"New tax filings show Trump's legal defense fund raising about $1.6 million over the last six months and spending less than $30,000," Sollenberger explains. "But more notable than how little the legal defense group has spent is what they didn't spend it on — namely, legal services — as well as what they paid for: a party at Mar-a-Lago…. While the fund can accept unlimited donations from both individuals and corporations, its first periodic financial report, submitted to the Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday, indicates a phlegmatic start, with only about $1.6 million in receipts."

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Sollenberger adds, "Trump's 2024 campaign had raised about $56.7 million as of September 30. Even more alarming from the group is that the majority of that money — $1 million —came from a single contribution, given by a donor couple whose previous association with QAnon conspiracy theory forced the campaign to cancel a fundraiser ahead of the 2020 election."

The Daily Beast reporter notes that the Patriot Legal Defense Fund "spent just $28,578 over the last six months, with Trump's Mar-a-Lago club getting $18,136 for 'banquet hall' fees in late November."

According to Sollenberger, "The second biggest payout went to Trump political adviser Michael Glassner, who runs the fund and received $2500 for 'consulting,' paid through his public affairs firm C&M Transcontinental.… It's unclear why the fund reported no legal expenses. Trump has been hemorrhaging cash for years due to ever-mounting legal fees, and that pressure has only increased after the PLDF launched in July."

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