A one-time lawyer to former President Donald Trump now likes his old employer’s top primary rival so much that he contributed more than the maximum allowable amount, a new Federal Election Commission filing shows. But when The Daily Beast asked the lawyer, John Dowd, why he put so much money behind his former client’s opponent, Dowd had a curious response: “I don’t know.”
According to the filing, which named 800 donors who had made excess contributions to the DeSantis campaign, Dowd has contributed $3,570 to the DeSantis campaign’s primary election—$270 more than allowed by law. But in a Monday afternoon phone conversation, the 81-year-old attorney evaded questions.
Asked why he supported DeSantis, Dowd first claimed, “I don’t want to.” Confronted with his contribution record, Dowd replied, “I don’t know. I don’t want to talk about that,” then hung up and blocked this reporter’s phone number. (The Daily Beast confirmed Dowd as the contributor based on FEC filings, which list a hometown address on his DeSantis donations that matches his address on prior donations.)
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Dowd represented Trump during the Mueller investigation, then briefly served as counsel for Rudy Giuliani associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, clocking $100,000 from the Republican National Committee for his work. Today, however, he’s one of a number of former Trump backers who have shifted to DeSantis. But many wealthy donors have since expressed second thoughts about that support, citing runaway spending, unpopular right-wing culture wars, and the character the Florida governor has cut in campaign appearances.
According to the FEC’s notice on Monday, DeSantis—whose latest filing shows about $20 million raised, $8 million spent, and $12 million cash on hand—appears to have raised several million dollars in excess donations. Those funds must either be refunded, allocated to spouses with joint bank accounts who haven’t maxed out, or expressly reattributed by the donor to DeSantis’ general election account—which federal law forbids DeSantis from using during the primary. (The FEC notice also flagged an excessive donation from Kelly Craft, Trump’s former ambassador to the United Nations; Craft did not respond to a comment request.)
Brendan Fischer, a campaign finance attorney and deputy executive director of Documented, told The Daily Beast that while these types of FEC notices typically don’t pose major problems, that could be different here given DeSantis’ dire financial straits.
“Redesignating millions of dollars to the general isn’t a big deal for a candidate who is flush with cash or cruising to a primary victory,” Fischer said. “But shuffling millions of dollars to an off-limits general account can really hurt a candidate who is short on funds and struggling with primary voters.”
It’s not the first time Dowd has given more than allowed by law; FEC filings show more than $33,700 in refunds to Dowd over the last two decades, including a 2019 $3,700 check from the Trump campaign that he never deposited.
