Donald Trump’s newly formed Trump 47 joint fundraising committee will send a portion of the campaign donations to the Save America political action committee, which has been largely used to help pay for the former president’s mounting legal bills.
According to a copy of an invitation to major donors, the Trump 47 donations will be distributed first to the Trump campaign, followed by Save America PAC, which is a leadership PAC.
When donors reach their maximum contribution limits, the money will go to the Republican National Committee (RNC) followed by Republican state parties. The priority of Save America was first reported by the Associated Press.
The ordering is a departure from the norm for political donations to joint fundraising committees, where the ordering typically starts with the candidates’ campaign, then the national party, then state parties, not leadership PACs.
But the former president faces mounting legal bills from a series of civil and criminal cases, and the Save America PAC has spent tens of millions on lawyers, including nearly $5.6 million last month alone.
Former President Trump sits on the court in October 2023. His new Trump 47 joint fundraising committee directs funds to Trump’s campaign and leadership PAC before the money goes to the RNC and state parties
Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump was elected co-chair of the Republican National Committee earlier this month. She has previously said she believes voters will support the RNC paying Trump’s legal bills
In the invitation to an April 6 megadonor event hosted by hedge fund billionaire John Paulson, the maximum donation is $814,600 per person. person. A maximum of $5,000 of that can go to the leadership PAC before the money goes to other party committees, so only a fraction of larger donations would go to what has been primarily used as the legal slush fund, but it would take a larger percentage of smaller donations.
“Save America also covers a very active and robust post-presidential office and various other expenses unrelated to fighting the illegal witch hunts perpetrated by Crooked Joe Biden,” Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communications director, said in a statement.
‘The Trump campaign, RNC and state GOP parties ultimately receive the overwhelming majority of funds raised through the Trump 47 Committee. Out of an individual donor’s maximum contribution of $824,600, less than 1% (0.006%) goes to Save America,” he added.
It comes after Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump, wife of Eric Trump, was recently elected co-chair of the RNC earlier this month and Trump loyalist Michael Whatley was elected national chairman, completing Trump’s influence on the party.
Days later Trump too gained the necessary delegates to be the GOP presidential nominee for a third term, which will become official at the convention in July.
Trump’s campaign said he had a total of $41.9 million in cash on hand at the end of February. Biden’s campaign announced that he had a combined $155 million in cash on hand
But the former president has struggled with fundraising as he heads into election season and his legal bills are piling up.
President Biden reported a combined $155 million campaign war chest at the end of February, while Trump had a combined $41.9 million in cash on hand.
Of Save America PAC’s total spending last month, 85 percent of that went to legal bills, and it still owed the law firm of Alina Habba more than half a million dollars. Last year, it spent nearly $50 million on legal bills.
Trump faces 88 charges in four criminal cases that could begin trial later this year, just as the presidential race is set to heat up.
At the same time, Trump was hit by a $464 million judgment in the fraud case in New York and is fighting to secure a bond by Monday at the latest. He was also ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll $83 million in the defamation case.
While Biden has completely surpassed Trump in fundraising so far, filings show the RNC has money, too. It had just over $11 million in cash on hand at the end of February, less than half of what the Democrats had.
Before being unanimously elected RNC co-chair, Lara Trump said at a campaign event that she believes voters would support requiring the RNC to pay the former president’s full legal fees.
She said it would gain broad support among GOP voters who see the legal proceedings as ‘an attack.’
The RNC had paid some of Trump’s legal bills before he was a presidential candidate, but former RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in 2022 that would stop once he was a candidate.
President Biden’s joint fundraising committee, the Biden Victory Fund, has a traditional cash flow by comparison. The money goes to the presidential campaign and then the Democratic National Committee before flowing to state parties.