(NewsNation) — Former President Donald Trump isn’t only facing legal challenges, but mounting bills with $40 million in 2023 legal expenses to date, as reported by The Washington Post. These expenses have been covered by Save America, Trump’s political action committee, rather than coming from his own pocket.
“It is a significant amount of money,” said former federal prosecutor David Weinstein. “But we’re talking about up to four now significant prosecutions where you’re going to have to have a number of lawyers and a number of different jurisdictions coordinating all these efforts.”
The PAC is expected to disclose the sum, $40.2 million, in a filing Monday, sources told The Washington Post. The sum is more than any other expense the Trump-led PAC has incurred in its 2024 presidential campaign, also more than what the campaign raised during the second quarter of 2023, according to federal filings.
The New York Times reported that Trump’s PAC requested a refund of a $60 million contribution it made to another group supporting him, citing unnamed sources, which has raised questions about potential financial difficulties.
Using PAC money for purposes other than campaigning and representing himself and his aides in court has raised ethical and legal concerns.
“The people he’s collecting this money from, they’re believing that it’s going towards his political campaign, and not to himself,” Weinstein said. “It becomes incumbent on them to look at their own resources to see how they’re going to defend themselves. Allowing money that’s coming into a political action committee or something else to defend him, well that’s something that perhaps yet another government entity is going to be taking a look at.”
In a statement, Steven Chung, Trump’s spokesperson, wrote: “The weaponized Department of Justice has continued to go after innocent Americans because they worked for President Trump and they know they have no legitimate case. In order to combat these heinous actions by (President) Joe Biden’s cronies and to protect these innocent people from financial ruin and prevent their lives from being completely destroyed. The leadership PAC contributed to their legal fees to ensure they have representation against unlawful harassment.”
This comes as Trump’s legal troubles are mounting as he faces indictment in state court in New York for hush money payments in federal court in Florida for mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House, and with this aides also facing indictments.
First, Walt Nauta, a personal aide, has been charged with helping Trump hide documents. Another aide, Carlos de Oliveira, a Portuguese immigrant, described as a longtime Mar-a-Lago employee, is charged with “concealing documents, making false statements to law enforcement and altering, destroying, mutilating and concealing an object.”