In the month of February, Donald Trump finally neared the start of his general election campaign against Joe Biden—while burning through his political operation’s coffers for even more cash to support his legal defenses.
On Wednesday night, Trump’s “Save America” leadership PAC—the political committee that now functions primarily as his legal slush fund—reported paying lawyers $5.6 million last month, according to Federal Election Commission filings. That’s well above the $5 million total the PAC raised in the same period.
The PAC also deferred payment on more than half a million dollars in additional fees to Alina Habba, who represented Trump in both of his milestone court losses in New York this year, while racking up a $645,000 bill to a company tasked with managing legal records in his business fraud case.
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Save America also clocked a $150,000 “charitable contribution” to the Article III Project, a group that advocates for conservative judicial nominees and reforms and is run by MAGA ally Mike Davis, who has staunchly advocated for Trump’s legal defense in the press. (For good measure, the PAC also paid another $18,000 to Melania Trump’s fashion designer Hervé Pierre Braillard.)
Altogether, that’s more than $6.9 million in combined legal-related payments in February from Save America alone—or about $238,000 per day during the shorter month. It’s an enormous sum for a key Trump PAC that reported having just over $4 million in the bank at the end of the month.
The latest filings show the staggering extent to which Trump’s donor resources are being diverted to his legal fights at a moment when he needs to rapidly scale up a national campaign effort—which Biden is doing thanks to an impressive fundraising blitz.
The filings also reveal how Trump is tapping Save America to support a number of court fights. Records show payments to attorneys who are handling his defense in his 2020 election subversion case in Washington, D.C., his classified documents case in Florida, his Stormy Daniels hush money suit, and his civil fraud case in New York.
Those cases more than devoured the $5 million partial refund check that Save America has been receiving from the allied “MAGA Inc.” super PAC each month to help offset the increasing legal burden. Trump demanded the unprecedented $60 million refund as his court troubles mounted last year, but even that lifeline won’t last forever—it’s on schedule to be fully returned by the end of May.
One law firm made its debut on the February payroll—a British outfit called “William Sturges LLP.” Outside of the roughly $52,000 from Trump last month, no federal political committee has ever paid that firm, according to FEC data.
The Trump campaign also submitted its February campaign finance report on Wednesday, listing around $933,000 in legal payouts. The campaign committee—the most flush group in Trump’s fundraising flotilla—was sitting on $33.5 million at the end of the month, the filing shows.
While Save America reported a loss on the month, the Trump campaign posted a $3 million gain. It’s difficult to tell how much the Trump team raised overall, however, since most of Trump’s fundraising is run through a separate committee that won’t disclose its numbers until April. That committee transferred more than $10 million to the Trump campaign last month, but did not send any money to Save America.
In any case, the Biden campaign continues to have an enormous cash advantage over Trump. Along with the national Democratic Party, the Biden campaign said on Sunday it raised $53 million in February and has $155 million on hand together with affiliated committees.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
MAGA Inc., meanwhile, brought in $12.7 million last month. The group’s biggest donor was Robert Bigelow—a Nevada real estate tycoon—who donated $5 million. Bigelow previously supported Ron DeSantis’ failed bid for president with a $20 million donation to his super PAC Never Back Down.
The GEO Group, a private prison company, donated $500,000 to the super PAC. Wallace Cheves, a South Carolina businessman who was attempting to build a casino in the state, donated $100,000, and former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler donated $720,000.
