After Trump’s Fundraising Committees Spent $50 Million In Legal Fees In 2023, Small-Dollar Donations Sink By 63%

Former President Donald Trump‘s fundraising committees spent $29 million on lawyers fees and legal consulting during the second half of 2023.

Federal election filings revealed the spending had been spread across several political action committees.

According to filings, Save America, the former president’s main joint fundraising committee with his campaign, spent over $25 million on legal fees, while Make America Great Again PAC spent close to $4 million on legal fees.

Trump’s committees spent nearly $21 million on lawyers during the first half of 2023, which brought his total spending in the area to almost $50 million for the full year.

Trump’s committees spent roughly $210 million over the entirety of 2023 while raising just less than $200 million.

The news comes as there are increasing signs of fatigue among Trump’s “small-dollar donors,” classified as people giving less than $200. In 2023, the campaign raised 63% less from small donors than it did in 2019.

Apart from Trump’s fundraising committees, his campaign reported on having raised $19 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, with $33 million in cash on hand at the end of this year.

But the spending on legal fees is accelerating in 2024, even as Trump has locked up the GOP nomination. He is facing 91 felony counts across four different cases in New York City, Washington, D.C., Georgia and Florida.

President Joe Biden‘s campaign entered 2024 with $117 million on hand, after having raised more than $97 million in the last three months of 2023.

“While Donald Trump lights money on fire paying the tab on his various… expenses, Team Biden Harris, powered by grassroots donors, is hard at work talking to the voters who will decide this election and building the campaign infrastructure to win in November,” Biden campaign spokesperson TJ Ducklo said in a statement.

The former president started raising millions of donations to him after he lost to Biden in the 2020 election. He pushed false claims of voter fraud to encourage his supporters to donate after this loss, attempts that have since become crucial to two indictments filed against him.

Save America almost went broke last year under the crush of legal fees. The super PAC paid for attorneys for Trump and some of his aides who were named in the indictments, including Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira, who had both been charged in the former president’s classified documents case after he had left the White House.

Ten percent of every dollar Trump raises from supporters was being given to Save America, which mainly pays the legal expenses.

Some expenses raised eyebrows.

Herve Pierre Braillard, the stylist of Melania Trump, has earned over $371,000 from the former president’s Super PACs since April 2022.

According to Trump’s PAC filing with the Federal Election Commission, these payments made to the stylist were noted for “Strategy Consulting.” Eight installments of $18,000 and one of $6,000 totaled $132,000.

Melania’s office said in a statement that Braillard is a “world-renowned artist.” She claimed that his work extends to various fields, aside from fashion design, and that his expertise is used “for special projects and events.”