Donald Trump's legal fees cost his political fundraising committees more than $50 million in 2023, leaving his PAC with just $5.1 million in the bank entering 2024.
The former president could face even higher legal costs this year.
Amid mounting court battles, former President Donald Trump's legal fees cost his political fundraising committees more than $50 million in 2023, leaving his leadership PAC that once boasted a $100 million war chest with just $5.1 million in the bank entering 2024.
And those 2023 legal bills came before Trump last week was ordered to pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in damages for defaming her in 2019. Trump is appealing both the jury verdict of defamation and the subsequent penalties imposed by a second jury.
In a separate case, a New York Judge is also weighing whether to fine Trump as much as $370 million plus interest in the former president's civil fraud trial.
As Trump's legal battles ramped up in the second half of last year, so did his legal spending -- with his political action committees reporting a total of $34 million in legal expenditures in the second half of last year compared to roughly $26 million in the first half, according to the former president's latest campaign disclosures.
It's so weird because usually you spend that much money and have that much of a spending imbalance, it means you're going to have a massive advantage legally speaking as well. The person with the most money has a massive advantage in all legal matters and frankly can usually just outlast the opposition. But Trump is such a whack job that he negates that advantage. It's amazing he's such a liability but no amount of money makes him safe. It's fascinating