Trump to host candlelight dinner at Mar-a-Lago with sons to raise money for co-defendants

Donald Trump will host a candlelight dinner with his two adult sons at Mar-a-Lago to raise money to pay legal bills for his co-defendants in four criminal cases.

The fundraiser, which does not yet have a date or time scheduled, could raise between $500,000 to $1 million for the Patriot Legal Defense Fund, according to two sources familiar with the planning, and is supposed to operate alongside the Save America PAC that's primarily paying Trump's legal bills, reported The Messenger.

“Save America wasn’t really designed as a legal defense fund, so as the legal landscape evolved, so did this effort,” said one Trump official familiar with the planning. “The fact is that the Department of Justice is trying to bankrupt people and make them drown under legal bills, but Donald Trump is not going to let them.”

Save America had paid at least $22 million to cover legal expenses for the former president and his employees, former employees and others caught up in the various criminal investigations into his presidency and businesses, according to the most recent filings with the Federal Elections Commission, but the Patriot Legal Defense Fund was set up in July, just after Trump revealed he was a target of special counsel Jack Smith's Jan. 6 investigation.

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“Just responding to a subpoena can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Being a criminal defendant costs of hundreds of thousands,” said conservative attorney Mike Davis, who claims that Smith and other prosecutors who have charged Trump are all Democrats. “That’s the point of this Democrat lawfare. They’re making the process the punishment. They don’t care if the Supreme Court ultimately rejects their bogus legal theories. The goal is to take out Trump and punish his supporters before Nov. 5, 2024.”

Trump has raised about $10 million off the mugshot taken Aug. 25 in Fulton County, Georgia, where he and 18 co-defendants have been charged with racketeering, and 90 percent of every dollar he raises goes toward his campaign and 10 percent to Save America.

The ex-president will also stop by a fundraiser Thursday at his Bedminister, New Jersey, golf club for former campaign attorney Rudy Giuliani that could raise up to $1 million, and that's what organizers are hoping to raise for Trump's co-defendants at Mar-a-Lago -- which may also feature a reception of about 20 people before the dinner.

"It's a family style dinner, very intimate and exclusive," said one Trump official.