


Former President Donald Trump has shifted more funds that were raised for his 2024 presidential campaign into a political action committee set up to pay his personal legal fees.
When Trump started his campaign in November, for every dollar raised online, 99 cents was sent to his campaign, with a penny going toward Save America PAC. But sometime in February, he adjusted the split to send 90% of donations to the campaign and 10% to Save America, according to the New York Times, citing internet archival records.
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In response to an inquiry about the diverted funds, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung told the Washington Examiner the changes were made "Because the campaign wants to ensure every dollar donated to President Trump is spent in the most cost-effective manner."
Save America owns the list of email addresses and phone numbers of Trump's supporters, which is one of Trump's most valuable assets, and the campaign is essentially paying the PAC for access to the list.
Cheung said a "fair market analysis" was conducted to determine email list rentals would be "more efficient by amending the fundraising split between the two entities."
The previously unannounced changes come as Trump is preparing for at least two criminal trials, one pertaining to his alleged mishandling of classified documents and another surrounding alleged hush money payments given to porn star Stormy Daniels in the run-up to his 2016 presidential bid.
Shifting more funding over to Save America has given Trump the window to allow his small donors to pay for his legal expenses and has already generated substantial results. The Times reported that the shift may have already diverted nearly $1.5 million to Save America.
Political action committees cannot typically spend money directly on a candidate's campaign, and a campaign committee cannot directly pay for things that benefit the candidate personally, such as personal legal fees.
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For more than a year before Trump officially announced his 2024 campaign, Save America has been fronting the cost for matters related to investigations into Trump and his allies. More than $16 million from the PAC has gone into paying Trump's legal fees.
Save America maintained roughly $122 million in its coffers as of February 2022, but the PAC's cash on hand was down to $18 million at the beginning of 2023, with expenditures on matters such as staff salaries, political activities, and a bulk of $60 million that was transferred to MAGA Inc, a super PAC supporting Trump.