SKINT: Trump NEEDS a refund from his own PAC to pay his legal bills
Donald Trump, the billionaire who refuses to pay a measly $60 million in legal fees out of his own money, is now desperately trying to move money back from his old post-2021 PAC that gave his current campaign PAC $60 million.
The old PAC can pay his legal fees. (Maybe legally). The campaign PAC cannot.
Of course, all of these millions come from small-dollar donations often made by people who really cannot afford to spend the money.
The payments that come from the very same people are often fooled into donations to pay legal fees (thinking they are helping the campaign).
These tactics perfectly support Chris Christie’s accusation that Trump is the cheapest man he’s ever been around and that Trump is only good at spending other people’s money.
Trump has enough property and cash to pay for his own defense (and that of many others).
Moving the money from one PAC to another comes as an absolute necessity as Trump’s legal fees scream upward.
From The New York Times report:
“The political action committee that former President Donald J. Trump is using to pay his legal bills faced such staggering costs this year that it requested a refund on a $60 million contribution it made to another group supporting the Republican front-runner, according to two people familiar with the matter.”
So, he used his “Save America PAC” for more general purposes, and Save America gave his campaign $60 million.
However, Trump’s Save America PAC is asking for its $60 million back…please, because things are getting really sticky.
Maybe Trump anticipated hiring attorneys in states up and down the coast but didn’t imagine having to pay the legal fees of all his “friends” who were also indicted.
Trump pays for the attorneys, in part, because it helps him orchestrate matters if the attorneys are all speaking together, knowing that the person paying the bills is the one who needs to be pleased.
It is a conflict and ethical nightmare for, well, ethical attorneys. It isn’t a problem for some.
Trump hasn’t yet set up a fund yet solely to pay his legal fees (that’s pretty tacky and almost an admission that he can’t afford a measly $60 million), but he may be forced to do so.
Maybe he can do a “Go Fund Me, Supersized”?
Trump’s Save America PAC has already spent a jaw-dropping $40 million in defending Trump, and most (probably including Trump) consider him only halfway up the indictment ladder.
Or one-third if you consider the seriousness of the next two. And Trump is going to need $100 million? OH! And he ain’t done. We’ve got trials coming and appeals; $ 250-300 million is probably more like it.
It is not even clear that Trump can legally use PAC money to pay legal bills, but, as with a lot of things, Trump just does what he wants and checks on the legality later.
And I mentioned the possible fraud above? As the Times reports:
“Earlier this year, Mr. Trump began diverting a larger percentage of every dollar he raised online away from his campaign and into his PAC, which he has used to pay for his lawyers. At the start of the 2024 campaign, Mr. Trump had devoted 99 cents of every dollar raised online to his campaign. But he shifted that formula to now give only 90 cents to the campaign and 10 cents to the PAC, which has served as a sort of de facto legal fund.”
There are tiny disclaimers on the websites. But savvy Trump donors should know by now that any money they give Trump is money to use as he pleases.
So, he needs that influx of cash as Trump awaits the likely new charges he’ll face in Washington DC and in Atlanta.
The reason it is a “request” is that the FEC must look at the new PAC reports on Monday and likely has to rule on whether the refund is within the rules.
From the Times report, the answer isn’t obvious.
But there is some great news for Trump.
Despite the fact that Trump is about to put together a bundle of four indictments, three of which are extremely serious, his followers haven’t lost faith!
In fact, they’ll likely happily contribute because it will piss Joe Biden off.
They are sure that Joe Biden is ordering all of this.
The President hasn’t spoken one word of it to any of the prosecutors. This will be the most investigated investigation in all of history. Biden isn’t stupid or unethical.
But ask a MAGA. This is all happening because “Biden knows he can’t beat Trump.”
As stated above, the Save America PAC has old roots. It had $100 million collected when Trump pretended to fight to get the White House back after Biden was sworn in.
It is coming in handy.
Actually, it’s going dry and needs an infusion, fast — faster than the indictments come.
Many people believe that Fani Willis is planning a RICO case with up to 20 defendants. It is unlikely that Trump can pay to represent everyone in that matter, and thus there will be renegades making deals.
Trump’s worst nightmare.
Actually, Trump has worse nightmares. They are waking nightmares, though.
The ones where he runs out of money totally.
The ones in which he hears, “We, the jury, find the Defendant Donald J. Trump guilty of… ”
And the ultimate one, riches to rags in prison.
But if anyone has ever earned it, it’s Donald Trump. He’s been getting away with crimes all his life. Maybe it’s just finally caught up with him.
An attempted coup was just one tiny step too far.
Original reporting by Maggie Haberman and Shane Goldmacher at The New York Times.
I can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com and on Twitter “X” @JasonMiciak
Editor’s note: This is an opinion column that solely reflects the opinions of the author.
