The committee used for big donations to former President Donald Trump’s campaign gave more than $7 million last quarter to the fund Trump uses to pay his legal fees, according to new filings released Tuesday, continuing the ex-president’s trend of using his political campaign to help cover his personal legal bills.
Former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally on October 12 in Coachella, California.
The Trump 47 Committee, which collects donations from bigger donors to Trump’s campaign, transferred $7.3 million to Save America PAC between July 1 and September 30, according to a Federal Election Committee filing.
Save America PAC is used to pay a variety of expenses for Trump and his campaign, but has primarily become the ex-president’s main funding source for his legal bills, paying out more than $60 million to attorneys representing Trump.
The PAC was first formed in the aftermath of the 2020 election, with Trump soliciting funds for his post-election lawsuits, and since then has been funded largely through rerouted campaign donations, along with refunds made by a different Trump committee that Save America previously gave money to.
Before Trump became the formal Republican nominee, 10% of donations made on his campaign website were funneled to Save America, but now that Trump raises money jointly with the Republican National Committee, the only campaign money that goes to Save America comes from its biggest donors.
When big money donors give money to the Trump 47 Committee, their donations first go to Trump’s campaign directly, but once the maximum is reached ($6,660), their money goes next to Save America (up to $5,000); any money left over after that is then given to the Republican National Committee and state groups.
The Trump campaign has not yet responded to a request for comment.
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A number of big donors have given big enough donations to the Trump 47 Committee that their money would also go to Save America, including Miriam Adelson, Marc Andreessen, Don Ahern, John Catsimatidis, Diane Hendricks, Palmer Luckey, Stephen Schwarzman, Paul Singer and Dan Snyder. Other well-known Trump allies have also given to the fund, including MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, son-in-law Jared Kushner and former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Save America will release its next filing, covering the committee’s finances in September, on Oct. 20. That will show how much Trump has paid his lawyers through the fund last month and if it took in any other money besides the funds from the Trump 47 Committee.
Campaign finance experts have told Forbes that Trump using donor money to pay his legal bills is a legal gray area that’s unlikely to land him in any hot water legally. Trump’s Save America PAC is a leadership committee that isn’t subject to the same kind of restrictions as his actual campaign fund, and with the FEC taking little action against campaign finance issues that aren’t clear-cut violations, it isn’t anticipated they would go after Trump over his legal payments.
Trump has faced an escalating number of civil and criminal cases against him since leaving office in 2020, turning to Save America to pay his legal bills as the cases against him have piled up. The ex-president has come under criticism for using donor money to pay his bills—with a member of the RNC unsuccessfully introducing a resolution to block the committee from paying Trump’s lawyers—but has not faced any major pushback that has stopped him from using Save America for his personal expenses. The campaign’s decision to funnel money from its big donors to Save America comes as the legal fund has faced a cash crunch in recent months, as seven-figure refund checks it was receiving from a different Trump committee—giving the PAC back some of the funds it gave away when Save America was more flush with cash—ran dry. FEC filings show Save America ended August owing more in debt to Trump’s lawyers than it actually paid them, even as the fund ended the month with $4.8 million in cash on hand.
Trump sending money to pay his legal fees also comes as the ex-president has started lagging behind in fundraising as compared to Vice President Kamala Harris, whose campaign has reportedly taken in more than $1 billion since she entered the presidential race in July. Trump’s campaign has only raised $309.2 million between Jan. 2023 and the end of August by comparison, and it reported that his campaign and affiliated groups raised $160 million in September. FEC filings released Tuesday show Harris’ joint fundraising committee Harris Victory Fund took in nearly twice as much last quarter as Trump’s two major joint committees combined, raising $633.2 million as compared with $194.5 million by Trump’s Trump National Committee—which is used for smaller donations—and $145.2 million by the Trump 47 Committee.