Florida bill would funnel $5M of public money to Trump to pay legal fees

Florida Republicans have a new idea — create a state program that will bail out up to $5 million of former President Donald Trump's legal expenses with public money.

The legislation — first reported by Newsweek — has been proposed by Florida's Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and is being sponsored by State Sen. Ileana Garcia. It would establish a bucket of cash called the "Florida Freedom Fighters Fund."

The program"would provide up to $5 million to cover legal costs for Florida residents who are running for president, like Trump, and face 'legal, partisan, political attacks by the Department of Justice or State Attorneys,' Patronis's office said in a statement.

"We’ve got a Florida Man – Donald Trump – running for President, and he’s facing ongoing legal challenges from Democrats in New York, Washington D.C., and Atlanta," the statement said.

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"The Left is really good at weaponizing the courts, and because President Biden is so unpopular, they’re not just trying to beat Trump at the ballot box, they’re trying to throw him behind bars, which is outrageous."

Trump is currently facing four separate criminal indictments, two from special counsel Jack Smith under the umbrella of the Justice Department and two from state prosecutors in New York and Georgia.

The cash would come from the Florida Department of Revenue, deriving money from the state's Public Campaign Finance Matching Funds Program and from voluntary contributions from driver's license registrations, Patronis's office said.

Trump is overwhelmingly favored in polling to be nominated for another presidential run this year.

However, some polling has also suggested that a conviction in any of his trials would severely hurt his standing against incumbent President Joe Biden, who defeated him in 2020.

Garcia was elected to a typically Democratic-leaning South Florida seat in 2020 thanks to a "ghost candidate" who ran on the ballot with the same last name as her Democratic challenger, splitting the vote — a scheme that resulted in a statewide scandal and arrests of candidates and Republican operatives.

She has come under controversy during her time in office for proclaiming that being LGBTQ "is not a permanent thing" and blocking a constituent who asked about her employment of a campaign manager who was allegedly at the January 6 attack.