Trump’s 'substantial legal bills' catch up with him as trial drags on: experts

30 April 2024

Former President Donald Trump's first criminal trial in Manhattan is now in its second week, and bills for his defense attorneys piling up just as he's attempting to run a competitive nationwide presidential campaign could complicate his political ambitions.

Newsweek recently spoke with several political and legal experts who weighed in on how the ex-president is likely stressing over the sky-high costs of defending himself from 34 felony courts in Manhattan — with trials for the 54 other felony charges still to come. UK-based professor Todd Landman, who teaches political science at the University of Nottingham, told the outlet that Trump being in court for four days a week over the course of a six-week trial will cost him significant sums of money.

"He has retained multiple lawyers to defend him, which means that he will have to pay substantial legal fees," Landman said. "It is not clear that he will run out of money, as he has been successful in securing a number of large donations from supporters. However, there are legal constraints on using some of his political organizations and thus [he] needs to keep campaign finance separate from personal legal defense spending."

"On top of his legal fees, he has outstanding civil judgments against him pending appeal," Landman added.

Currently, the former president has an agreement with the Republican National Committee (RNC) where a portion of funds the GOP raises automatically go toward Trump's PACs, which are helping to cover his legal fees. Bloomberg reported earlier this month that Save America PAC, which is the primary super PAC he's using to fund his legal defense, has already spent more than $62 million on legal expenses since January of last year. In March alone, the PAC spent nearly $5 million on Trump's lawyers.

And as Landman noted, Trump could potentially have to fork over more than half a billion dollars worth of civil judgments this year depending on how he fares in the appeals process. New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking $454 million in penalties and interest resulting from the civil fraud trial that concluded in February, and writer E. Jean Carroll was awarded an $83.3 million defamation judgment by a New York jury. That's on top of another $5 million judgment against Trump in 2023 for sexual abuse.

Despite his mounting financial woes, American history professor Christopher Phelps, who also teaches at the University of Nottingham, said Trump will likely find a way to pay his bills based on his fundraising arrangement with the RNC.

"Trump has taken over the RNC and turned the whole of the Republican party, including his own campaign, into a fundraising operation that is tapping other billionaires to bankroll his lawyer bills and legal fees," Phelps told Newsweek. "He won't run out of money."

"The key question is whether he can do so while also running an effective ground operation in the battleground states, which requires a lot of advertising and personnel," he added.

President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee's fundraising advantage is compounded by the fact that Biden doesn't have to contend with eight-figure legal costs. The DNC's combined fundraising haul with Biden's reelection campaign currently stands at more than $192 million in cash on hand as of March 31, according to Bloomberg.

Click here to read Newsweek's full report.

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