Former US President Donald Trump’s primary fundraising group, known as a leadership PAC, has recently disclosed spending over $21 million on legal fees during the first half of 2023.
These expenses are incurred amid ongoing investigations and lawsuits targeting Donald Trump, his advisors, and associates.
Leadership PACs, like Trump’s Save America committee, are established to raise funds from donors to support political campaigns in the United States.
Originating in the 1970s, these committees allow elected officials and candidates to raise money for other political candidates of the same party without utilising their own campaign funds.
Typically controlled by lawmakers or political leaders, leadership PACs are not directly linked to a candidate’s campaign.
Their funding cannot be used to support the candidate’s campaign directly, but they can cover administrative expenses such as travel, political consulting, and polling.
Unlike super PACs that can receive unlimited contributions from corporations, unions, and individuals, individual donors are limited to contributing no more than $5,000 annually to leadership PACs.
In the case of Trump’s Save America PAC, it was established shortly after the 2020 presidential election, during which Trump propagated false claims of widespread voter fraud, leading to his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden.
While the committee made donations totalling about $760,000 to other Republican candidates ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, the majority of its funds have been used to cover legal expenses for Trump and his associates.
Prior to the current disclosure, the Save America PAC had already reported spending more than $16 million on legal bills through 2022.
Since leaving office, Trump has been confronted with two criminal indictments and several other investigations. His legal battles have involved not only himself but also his political advisers and employees of his real estate business.
Despite the charges, Trump has pleaded not guilty and has claimed that the investigations against him are politically biased.
The legality of using campaign money, including funds from leadership PACs, for legal expenses not directly related to a campaign remains a complex and contested issue among legal experts.
While politicians are generally prohibited from spending campaign funds on personal legal expenses, the situation becomes intricate when investigations are tied to the individual’s conduct as a political candidate or a past officeholder.
Trump’s team may argue that his criminal defence is separate from his campaign, and therefore, the legal fees are not directly benefiting the campaign.
A Trump spokesman has stated that the payments for legal fees were made “in accordance with the law and upon the advice of counsel.” —AFP
