(RightWing.org) – Newly released federal election filings show that former president Donald Trump spent millions of dollars in donations on his legal expenses last year. They also reveal that his former personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, got nothing. Now experts are warning that, with Trump officially a candidate in next year’s presidential election, he needs to watch how he spends his money.
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Federal returns filed by Trump’s Save America PAC show that in 2021 and 2022, it spent around $16 million on legal fees — and $10 million of that went towards the former president’s personal bills. Notably, no payments to Giuliani were listed. The former New York City mayor joined Trump’s personal legal team in 2018, although he’s apparently not involved in any of his current cases. Giuliani did play a big role in Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election result, but Trump allegedly refused to pay him for that. Apparently, he told staff he wasn’t going to pay Giuliani unless he managed to reverse the election.
Trump has several ongoing legal issues right now. Most are related to his political career and include the Mar-a-Lago classified document investigation, his alleged involvement in the 2020 Georgia general election process, and the January 6 case. Others are linked to his businesses, including allegations of tax fraud at the Trump Organization.
Campaign finance experts are warning that now Trump is officially in the running for next year’s Republican presidential nomination, there are more legal limits on how he can spend money donated to his PAC. Lawyer Jason Torchinsky told the New York Times (NYT) that if a PAC makes payments that exceed the donation limit for candidates — which is currently $3,300 per donation — that would be illegal. The NYT says it’s emailed Trump to ask if he still plans to use PAC money to pay his legal bills; so far, he hasn’t responded.
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