One Year After Leaving Office, RNC Is Still Covering Trump’s Six Figure Legal Bills
More than a year after the 2020 presidential election, the GOP is still covering numerous legal bills for Donald Trump, and the high cost is getting under the thin skin of some longtime GOP donors who are now suddenly critical of Trump.
In October and November alone, the Republican National Committee (RNC) spent nearly $720,000 of its donor money on paying law firms representing Trump in various legal challenges, including criminal investigations into his businesses in New York, according to campaign finance records.
Trump’s legal bills have sent the Republican Party’s total legal expenditures soaring in recent months, resulting in $3 million spent just between September and November. In contrast, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has been gradually winding down its legal expenses over the last few months.
The Republican Party has to make a choice.
We can either be loyal to our Constitution or loyal to Donald Trump, but we cannot be both. pic.twitter.com/pDg8Lb3rzy
— Rep. Liz Cheney (@RepLizCheney) January 2, 2022
National political parties have at times covered presidents and their advisers’ legal fees in matters related to their presidential campaigns. And throughout his time in his office, the Republican Party footed the legal bills for Trump, his family members, and his political allies, going all the way back to the days of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 election and through both of the impeachment proceedings, including the one following the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.
If you had as much kompromat on Republicans as Trump has on them, via Putin, you could get the RNC to cover your legal bills, too.
— Barbara Malmet (@B52Malmet) January 10, 2022
Experts say the GOP’s recent payments of Trump’s attorney fees after he left the White House, for investigations that are not relevant to the next presidential campaign, is a very unusual move that’s indicative of the ongoing influence that Trump still has over the party.
While the RNC pays for Trump’s legal bills, the family of this insurrectionist’s victim is trying to raise money for her funeral. https://t.co/6aPSb2flCe
— Rachel Vindman (@natsechobbyist) January 7, 2022
RNC spokesperson Emma Vaughn told ABC News that the RNC’s executive committee approved paying for “certain legal expenses that related to politically motivated legal proceedings waged against President Trump,” while declining to comment on which specific cases are being paid for.
For five years, Republicans have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in Trump's legal bills from funds which were grifted from MAGAts https://t.co/NkDuLsmvDc
— Tara Dublin, Untapped Writing Goldmine #SignTara (@taradublinrocks) January 10, 2022
The RNC has so far paid three law firms on behalf of Trump, paying $328,000 to NechelesLaw LLP, $200,000 to van der Veen, Hartshorn, and Levin, and $172,000 to Fischetti & Malgieri LLP, according to its recent disclosure filings. The Washington Post reported that the RNC has agreed to pay up to $1.6 million of Trump’s legal bills.
Why won’t the RNC pay the personal legal bills for other Republican former and current elected officials facing lawsuits and criminal charges? Why is it just Trump? There certainly is no shortage of them in trouble who would love the handout. And they aren’t even “billionaires.”
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 30, 2021