‘Asking for your help’: Trump's Georgia co-conspirators facing reality of crippling legal bills

Donald Trump's co-defendants in the sprawling Georgia racketeering case are facing years in court and "financially ruinous" legal fees, according to an Atlanta defense attorney.

Past racketeering cases in Fulton County that have involved multiple defendants dragged out for years, said local defense attorney Andrew Fleischman, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that most of those individuals simply don't have enough money to fight those charges through a trial's conclusion.

“Doing a RICO trial here grinds people down and makes it impossible for them to live their lives, and that, more than the punishment at the end, I think is what induces people to plea,” said Fleischman, a former public defender now at the firm Sessions & Fleischman.

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Trump has relied on his political action committees to pay his legal fees in four prosecutions, and while some of his co-defendants have sought assistance from the Georgia Republican Party or the former president's donor base, others are coming up empty since the indictments were handed up last week.

“I was reliably informed Trump isn’t funding any of us who are indicted," said Jenna Ellis, who was among 18 people indicted with Trump. “I totally agree this has become a bigger principle than just one man. So why isn’t MAGA, Inc. funding everyone’s defense?”

Rudy Giuliani, who was indicted on 13 counts in the case and faces a defamation case filed by two Fulton County election workers, set up a legal defense fund two years ago on the crowdfunding site Fundly, but he's raised only $10,000 toward his $5 million goal, and the page is no longer active.

Ellis and "fake elector" Cathy Latham, who was indicted on multiple charges, have set up crowdfunding pages on the Christian-based site GiveSendGo, which has reportedly been used to raise $5.4 million for white nationalists, neo-Nazis and other extremists, and it has been a popular vehicle for Jan. 6 defendants to raise money for their own legal bills.

“While you may know me as an alternate elector and former County GAGOP Chair, I am also a retired public school teacher living on a teacher’s pension," wrote Latham on her page, but so far she has only raised $5,600 out of a $500,000 goal. "I am asking for your help today to help me cover legal fees during this time."

The Georgia Republican Party has pledged to cover legal fees for the "alternate electors," and campaign filings show the state GOP has paid more than $522,000 this year to four firms that represent 10 of the 16 electors, although only three of them -- Latham, state Sen. Shawn Still and former state Republican Party chairman David Shafer -- wound up being indicted in the case, although all of them had been told by prosecutors they were "targets" in the investigation.

The defendants must also pay for bail -- which has ranged from $10,000 for Still up to $200,000 for Trump -- and those sums may be paid in cash, by working with a professional bonding company, or through a special program that allows them to pay only 10 percent and fees.