'Fine with me': Trump’s small donors don’t care he’s using their money to pay his lawyers

03 February 2024

Former President Donald Trump has, according to reports, spent at least $55 million of his donors' money on legal expenses in 2023 alone. The vast bulk of that has come from small-dollar donors, like working people and retirees. And several of those donors say they're unbothered that the real estate magnate who is allegedly worth $2.6 billion is using their money for his own legal bills.

Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat wrote on Saturday that Trump received more than 39,000 individual donations just from Washington state residents alone last year, for a total of $1.34 million. That comes out to an average of $34 per donation, which Westneat says most often comes in the form of multiple $10, $20 and $30 donations from working-class residents with ordinary jobs like school custodian, self-employed handiman and retired bank employee.

Westneat interviewed the retired bank employee from Seattle who gave "a few hundred bucks" to the former president, who told the columnist that he had no problem with how Trump spent his contributions.

"I called him and asked him: Did you see that Trump spent $55 million of his campaign money on lawyers, for both himself and his associates? Does that trouble you?" Westneat wrote.

"“Not at all, it doesn’t bother me,” said the donor (whom Westneat kept anonymous).

"I don’t know anything about how he’s actually using the money," the donor added. "I do know that everybody’s attacking him with whatever weapons they have. If he’s defending himself with my money, then that’s more than fine with me."

According to a Politico analysis of campaign finance reports, the former president's biggest fundraising days came on the days he was indicted. After each indictment was announced, Trump's campaign blitzed its millions of supporters with emails, texts and social media posts urging them to donate (former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, in the meantime, saw her donations jump after her appearances in Republican presidential debates).

"The main thing I can impart to you, and thank you for calling, is that no matter what, we intend to keep at it," the donor told Westneat.

Click here to read Westneat's column in full.

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