Trump spending 'tens of millions' on legal bills as donations pour in at a 'prodigious pace': report

2024 GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is in a position that is unprecedented in U.S. history. He is facing four criminal indictments, yet appears to be on track to win his party's nomination: A Morning Consult poll released on October 17 finds Trump leading the primary's second-place candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, by 45 percent.

In an article published on October 17, Associated Press (AP) reporters Richard Lardner, Trenton Daniel and Aaron Kessler stress that Trump is dealing with two major expenses at once: the expense of running a campaign, and a mountain of legal bills.

"Donald Trump's political fundraising machine is raking in donations at a prodigious pace," the AP reporters observe, "but he's spending tens of millions of dollars he's bringing in to pay attorneys to deal with the escalating costs of the various criminal cases he is contending with as he moves further into the 2024 presidential campaign."

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?

The "massive amount of money going to" Trump's lawyers, according to the AP reporters, "amplifies the urgency Trump is feeling to raise money both for the campaign and his legal defense, which is unfolding on multiple fronts."

The journalists explain, "Trump's Save America political action committee has paid nearly $37 million to more than 60 law firms and individual attorneys since January 2022, Federal Election Commission records show. That amounts to more than half of the PAC's total expenditures, according to an Associated Press analysis of campaign finance filings, and represents a staggering sum compared to other political organizations."

Lardner, Daniel and Kessler add, "During the first half of 2023, Save America spent more on legal-related costs, over $20 million, than any other political committee that discloses to the FEC — more than the Republican National Committee, Democratic National Committee and National Republican Senatorial Committee spent during that period combined."

READ MORE:Judge Chutkan blasts Trump's attorney in gag order hearing

Read the Associated Press' full report at this link.