Former federal prosecutor: 'Is Donald Trump running for president just to pay his legal bills?'

During Thursday's episode of MSNBC's The Beat with Ari Melber, guest host and legal analyst Katie Phang spoke with former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti about Donald Trump's history of using donor money to cover the millions of legal fees he's acquired, and the potential consequences of his spending.

"With many more trials ahead this year, [Trump's] legal expenses are projected to surge," Phang noted. "The Washington Post calculating Trump already owes $88 million in gag orders, fines and damages that are racked up from two of his civil trials alone. And with a verdict looming in the $370 million civil fraud trial against him, hundreds of millions more could imminently be added to that bill."

The MSNBC host asked, "Putting aside the astronomical amount of $55 million in fees, is it even legal for Trump to be spending donor money on his legal fees?"

READ MORE: 'I know these people': Conservative slams Trump campaign’s 'shameful' pitch to GOP megadonors

"I think it is. Obviously at times he is, for example, using money that he has raised from donors for purely personal suits. The [writer E. Jean] Carroll suit, that might be an issue, although he's going to claim that was part of his official duties. But a lot of these things where, he's gonna say, for example, January 6th — he's going to say that was part of his duty as president. As a matter of fact, he's making the absurd argument that he has immunity for doing that."

He continued, "It's legal, but I think the issue is, what does this mean for Trump going forward? All of his donor money is going towards legal fees. He now has $88 million in fines. And we have another decision coming very soon that's likely going to be hundreds of millions more in fines. We don't know his liquidity. We don't know how much money he has on hand. But you have to wonder at a certain point, do his businesses have enough money to keep operating? Is Donald Trump running for president just to pay his legal bills? Just to pay his fines? That may be actually the situation we're in right now."

Watch the video below or at this link.

Former federal prosecutor: 'Is Donald Trump running for president just to pay his legal bills?'youtu.be

READ MORE: 'Highly unusual': Trump spent $50 million of supporters’ donations on his own legal bills