Questions raised about where $50M spent on Trump's legal fees actually went
January 31, 2024
Donald Trump's mounting legal costs topped $50 million in 2023, the New York Times reported this week. And experts are now saying there's little detail about where that money actually went.
"You're dealing with a tremendous amount of money," Times reporter Glenn Thrush explained on MSNBC Wednesday. "Now, look, he does have significant expenses. And a lot of that, as we know, at least, in the prior three years, a lot of the really blue chip attorneys in D.C. and New York turned Trump down. So, he's had to pay a bit of a premium for getting people."
Still, he explained, $50 million is an "inordinate amount of cash." He noted Trump's long career of touting "dealmaking," but said that he has seemed unable to do that with legal counsel. But he also speculated whether or not the money was actually going to legal fees.
Former Republican Congressman David Jolly agreed.
"Just focus on the legal expenses first," he said. "Donald Trump hates paying his lawyers. And even with someone who's got more lawsuits than an alligator in a pond right now, $50 million in legal fees is a lot. And I would be curious, just what is being attributed to legal fees when he makes those filings?
"But that's just the tip of the iceberg. What about everything else that the receipts are being used on? I think the spending side of the column is going to be far more controversial than the actual solicitation of donations."
Much of the money is thought to have come from contributions to Trump's political campaign. MSNBC started the segment with a clip showing findings from the Jan 6 committee that showed Trump raised over $100 million in the first week after the election using the so-called "big lie" to do it.
The Times has previously reported that Trump's PACs have paid many of his legal fees.
Then there's the question of how much Trump is spending on the legal fees of others. He has been paying bills for his aides, and providing lawyers to others Cassidy Hutchinson revealed in her book that she had a Trump-appointed lawyer who did not seem to have her interests first but rather those of the former president. An aide with Mar-a-Lago was provided a lawyer for the documents case, only to later seek out his own personal attorney and make a deal with the federal government.
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"So, Judge Canon's ruling that it was okay for these lawyers to be paid for and to represent multiple defendants has raised some eyebrows," said former prosecutor Joyce Vance.
"And that's not to say that it's inappropriate for someone else, even a codefendant, to pay legal fees. The issue is whether the lawyer, regardless of who is paying for their services, is providing competent, independent, careful representation that effectuates the best interest of a particular defendant."
See the full discussion in the video below or at the link here.
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