New Federal Election Commission filings released Saturday show that the Save America leadership PAC, which Trump has used to pay some of his lawyers, received $5 million in payments in March. It was revealed that he received $4.6 million in legal fees for Mr. Trump and some of his associates. . Throughout this election cycle, Save America has spent more on legislation than any group under Trump’s control.
Mr. Trump’s political committee has spent at least $16.7 million on legal fees so far this year, and owed another $900,000 to various companies as of the end of March, making Mr. Trump’s total lawsuits since the start of his campaign. The cost is approximately $86 million.
These fees continue to siphon money from MAGA, a major pro-Trump super PAC that last year agreed to refund $60 million to Save America. They sent $52.25 million in “contribution refunds” to the leadership PAC in 12 installments starting last May. MAGA Inc. again transferred $5 million to leadership PACs in March, accounting for nearly all of the money flowing into Save America, according to new reports.
FEC reports disclose to candidates and their leader PACs what legal matters each attorney or law firm handled when reporting payments to each attorney or law firm. I’m not looking for that.
Still, there are signs that Trump’s efforts to portray his legal problems as an unwarranted attack are persuading grassroots donors to continue donating to his campaign. For example, donations to his campaign occurred on March 22, a key moment in the civil fraud case when he was asked to post hundreds of millions of dollars in bond to prevent asset seizure by New York authorities, according to FEC data. . Spiked. A New York Court of Appeals panel later announced that former President Donald Trump would be allowed to post a reduced bail amount of $175 million.
On March 22, Trump wrote an all-caps post on his platform, Truth Social, saying he had nearly $500 million in cash and “intended to spend a significant amount of it on his presidential campaign.” insisted. He claimed in his post that the judge in the case was trying to take that money away from him. (Trump’s lawyers said in a March 18 court filing that Trump was unable to raise an appellate bond of more than $450 million to cover the verdict in the corporate fraud case.) Ta.)
It was the biggest day of fundraising since mugshots were taken in Fulton County, Georgia, in August. In late March, after securing the Republican nomination, Trump raised an average of more than $1.2 million a day through the online fundraising platform WinRed.
Campaign finance records filed this week show the Republican National Committee and President Trump’s joint fundraising efforts have collected large checks, with major donors contributing up to more than $800,000. But the funds available to Republican candidates at the end of March remained far short of the funds stashed away by Biden and his Democratic allies.
MAGA, the Trump-aligned super PAC, received large checks from some of the Republican Party’s biggest donors. Robert Bigelow contributed another $4.1 million to the super PAC, bringing his total contributions to MAGA Inc. to $9.2 million. Linda McMahon, who served as head of the Small Business Administration in the Trump administration and is now president of the America First Policy Institute, donated $5 million to the organization. MAGA Inc. said it had about $33 million in cash on hand at the end of March after repaying Save America $5 million.
Other key takeaways from the latest application documents include:
For Kennedy, it was a vice presidential windfall.
Nicole Shanahan’s personal wealth was one of her major assets when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. selected her as his running mate in his leading independent bid for the White House. The day after Ms. Shanahan joined the ticket on March 26, she helped replenish Mr. Kennedy’s campaign coffers and donated $2 million to his campaign, according to FEC records. The money is a much-needed infusion that could strengthen Kennedy’s efforts to get on the ballot in as many states as possible. As a candidate, Mr. Shanahan can donate unlimited amounts to his campaign.
Before joining the ticket, Shanahan had donated up to $6,600 to Kennedy’s campaign. In July, her venture firm, Planeta Management LLC, donated $500,000 to Common Sense PAC, another outside group supporting Kennedy. Planeta Management LLC also donated $4 million to American Values 2024, a super PAC supporting Kennedy, in January. The funds were used to pay for pro-Kennedy ads during the Super Bowl.
Democrats tout financial advantage as they seek control of the House
A report filed with the FEC this week showed Democrats are extending their fundraising advantage beyond presidential elections. The battle for control of the House and Senate affected many key areas.
Although the Republican National Committee struggled to raise money throughout the Republican primary, it doubled its cash reserves and had $22 million in cash at the end of March. But the Democratic National Committee still has double that amount in reserve, with a reported $45.2 million in cash at the end of March.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, which focuses on House races, had nearly $56 million in cash on hand at the end of March, significantly less than the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s $71.1 million in cash.
Other influential groups involved in the hotly contested House race are also rapidly raising money on both sides of the aisle. The Republican-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC reported it had nearly $68.6 million in cash available for major races at the end of March, while the House Majority PAC said in a filing Saturday that it had $63.2 million in cash at the end of the period. reported that it remained. .
Senate Republicans face a much more favorable situation and have successfully fielded several wealthy candidates in key races, but some of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents have large war chests. I’m saving up. The group also includes Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, who had about $12.7 million in cash at the end of March. Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio) had about $16 million in cash at the end of the period. Both men are defending seats in states that Trump won in 2016 and 2020.
Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada, a state that Democrats narrowly won in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, reported more than $13.2 million in cash at the end of March, preparing for a tough campaign in November. Retired Army Captain Sam Brown, the front-runner in the Republican race, had about $2.3 million in cash at the end of March. His Republican rival, former Ambassador Jeff Gunter, reported that he had nearly $2.6 million in his campaign coffers after loaning his campaign $2.7 million.
