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

Former President Donald Trump has been relying on campaign donations to his various affiliated PACs to pay down his massive legal costs, according to a new report.

On Tuesday, the New York Times' Maggie Haberman reported that Trump has primarily used his "Save America PAC" as a means to pay the various legal teams defending him amid four criminal indictments in three separate jurisdictions. According to the Times, the PAC was originally fueled with small-dollar contributions from his supporters as he sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Between money from Save America PAC and Make America Great Again PAC — which Haberman described as "an outgrowth of [Trump's] 2020 re-election committee" — the Times estimated that Trump spent approximately $50 million of donor contributions on paying defense lawyers. Additionally, Trump replenished his PAC accounts through a complex scheme involving refunds between the two entities.

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"[W]ith Save America’s coffers nearly drained last year, Mr. Trump sought to refill them through a highly unusual transaction: He asked for a refund of $60 million that he had initially transferred to a different group, a pro-Trump super PAC called MAGA Inc., to support his 2024 campaign," Haberman wrote. "In addition, Mr. Trump has been directing 10 percent of donations raised online to Save America, meaning 10 cents of every dollar he has received from supporters is going to a PAC that chiefly funds his lawyers."

Aside from legal expenses associated with fending off 91 felony charges in state and federal courtrooms, Trump will also have to pay sizable sums in civil cases — both from last week's judgment in which a New York jury ordered the former president to pay $83.3 million to the writer he sexually abused and defamed, and potentially more depending on the verdict Judge Arthur Engoron is expected to issue this week.

Judge Engoron, who is presiding over the bench trial in the civil suit New York Attorney General Letitia James is pursuing against the Trump Organization, is expected to issue a verdict this week. James is seeking $370 million in damages and to ban the former president from serving as an officer in New York-based companies in the future. Even if Trump appeals the decision, he'll still have to put the money in an account managed by the court while the appeals process plays out.

Trump's first criminal trial will likely be on March 25 in Manhattan, where District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted the ex-president on more than 30 felony counts of falsifying business records pertaining to alleged hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump's scheduled March 4 trial in US District Court in Washington, DC will likely be pushed back, as a federal appellate court panel is still considering his claim of absolute broad presidential immunity.

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Haberman's full report is here (subscription required).