Former President Donald Trump is spending a lot of money defending himself in court.
According to a new filing that detailed all the costs of Trump’s legal defenses, his Save America leadership PAC alone spent more than $40 million in just the first half of this year on Trump’s legal costs. That total completely blows out of the water the $16 million in legal fees it shelled out combined in 2021 and 2022.
The Save America PAC has served as the former president’s primary fundraising arm since it was founded not long after the presidential election in November 2020.
In addition to the news of the total amount the PAC has spent on Trump’s legal fees, this weekend also saw a report in The New York Times detail that Save America PAC had requested a $60 million refund from another PAC to which it gave money.
The Times reported that it wasn’t clear which PAC was the one that received the $60 million from Save America, or whether any of the money has – or will be – refunded back to it. It’s assumed that the money they are requesting would go toward defending Trump against his multiple indictments.
Last week, the superseding indictment in the classified documents case – being headed by special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation – was released to the public. It shows that in addition to Trump, two other people are charged with obstruction.
Those people are Walt Nauta, one of Trump’s aides, and Carlos De Oliveira, who served as the head of maintenance at the Mar-a-Lago estate for Trump. The obstruction charges stem from an allegation that they tried to delete surveillance footage from the resort last summer.
This indictment was in addition to the federal indictment that included 37 different federal charges all revolving around how he handled classified documents and took them with him when he left the White House.
Trump has already pleaded not guilty to all of those charges.
Nauta was also charged in that case, and he pleaded not guilty as well. Neither Nauta nor De Oliveira have entered a plea on these new charges, though they are expected to appear in court this week.
In addition to this federal indictment, Trump is facing a New York state indictment that includes 34 charges, all related to his business dealings in the state, specifically around a hush money payment that was made to former adult film star Stormy Daniels leading up to the 2016 presidential election.
Trump has also pleaded not guilty in that New York state case.
While these indictments would certainly be enough to rack up considerable legal bills, it’s possible that the former president could soon face even more charges.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis confirmed over the weekend that she would announce her charging decisions in her investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia by September 1.
If Trump is ultimately charged in that case, it would add to his already-mounting legal bills, and the role that Save America PAC will likely play in helping him pay for them.
