One of Donald Trump's PACs spent more on legal expenses than it raised in donations last month, according to a new Federal Election Commission filing.
Wednesday's FEC filing reveals that Save America, which supports the Republican's campaign, spent nearly $5.4 million on legal bills in February and ended the monthly reporting period with some $4 million.
The Context
Trump has been embroiled in multiple legal battles in recent years. Earlier this month, he posted a bond of nearly $92 million in the defamation case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll after Judge Lewis Kaplan denied the Republican's request to delay the enforcement of penalties. In January, Trump was ordered to pay $83.3 million in damages to Carroll for statements he made in 2019.
In New York, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled in February that Trump must pay $355 million for committing fraud. The court held that Trump and top executives at The Trump Organization committed fraud by inflating the value of his assets to obtain more favorable terms from lenders and insurers. With interest, the full payment will be around $464 million.
Overall, the GOP nominee has struggled with fundraising. While Trump's February figures have not yet been released, by the end of January his two fundraising committees had $36.6 million in cash and spent more than they raised.
What We Know
Save American spent $5.34 million on Alina Habba's law firm, Habba Madaoi & Associates LLP. Habba has become a prominent part of Trump's legal team. She represented the former president in his E. Jean Carroll defamation case as well as his New York civil fraud trial.
Having failed to cover the cost of the firm through donations, at the start of the period, the PAC had $6,289,527.87 cash in hand. At the end of February, it had $4,081,100.52.
Newsweek contacted a representative for Trump by email to comment on this story.
Views
Speaking to Newsweek, Christopher Phelps, a professor of modern American history at the University of Nottingham in the U.K., said using resources on Trump's legal bills was "not a recipe for political success."
"At a time when Biden seems to be pulling ahead of Trump in the polls, one would think that a PAC's priority would be advertising to key demographics and building out campaign organization in the battleground states," he said.
"That Trump's PAC is instead depleting its reserves to pay legal bills is not a recipe for political success. The only silver lining here for Trump is that for various reasons the timeline has been pushed back on when the many felony charges against him in four different cases will see their day in court, which may mean that no verdicts come in before the election.
"At some point, though, he'll need to spend on the actual campaign if he seeks to win, particularly given Biden's massively greater fundraising to date," Phelps said.
What's Next?
Trump has stepped up his fundraising efforts, launching a joint fundraising committee with the Republican National Committee (RNC) to raise money.
Meanwhile, his team is appealing his legal cases.
Update 03/21/24, 5:43 a.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.
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Kate Plummer is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. politics and national affairs, and ... Read more
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