A PAC controlled by former President Donald Trump that has devoted tens of millions of dollars to his and his allies’ bills could run out of cash after spending nearly $3.7 million on legal fees in March.
Save America, Trump’s leadership PAC, has spent $59.5 million on legal consulting since the beginning of 2023. It also incurred $886,000 in new legal debt in March, according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission on Saturday. evening. More than $1.1 million of his March spending went to two firms representing Trump in his criminal hush money trial in New York.
The total spent on legal expenses for Save America was almost as much as that of Trump’s campaign committee in the month of March, highlighting how legal problems have sucked cash out of his political operation. Trump’s official campaign committee spent just over $3.7 million in March, with travel expenses, followed by payroll, accounting for its largest spending categories.
That total is minuscule compared to the more than $29 million President Joe Biden’s campaign spent in March, when the incumbent launched a major ad campaign.
Save America, Trump’s leadership PAC, was able to stay in the black in March because of another $5 million refund in March from Make America Great Again Inc., the super PAC backing Trump. The super PAC has transferred $5 million to the leadership PAC each month since last July, with less regular transfers before then.
The leadership PAC initially seeded the super PAC with $60 million before he announced his candidacy. Now, MAGA Inc. can only send $2.75 million more to Save America, raising questions about whether Save America will continue to be the vehicle to fund legal bills in several cases linked to Trump.
The leadership PAC had just over $4 million in cash on hand at the end of March. He can still raise funds from donors and has previously raised money through one of Trump’s joint fundraising committees, although such transfers have been rare in recent months. That source may be shut down even further in the future: Since early April, Trump has been primarily sending out fundraising emails on behalf of a new joint fundraising committee, the National Trump Committee, which raises funds only for his campaign and the Republican National Committee.
The RNC reported its best fundraising month yet in March, with $20 million raised, about half of which came from another joint fundraising committee linked to Trump. However, the party committee spent $10 million, leaving it with $21 million in cash on hand, less than half of the $45 million the Democratic National Committee reported having in the bank at the end of March.
Among the RNC’s March expenses were $118,000 paid to former Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on March 6, two days before she left the committee. Representatives for McDaniel and the RNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the payment.
MAGA Inc., the pro-Trump super PAC that has been funding Save America, continued to raise cash in March, with $14 million raised thanks to massive donations from known GOP donors. Linda McMahon, a former WWE CEO who headed the Small Business Administration during the Trump administration, donated $5 million to the super PAC, while Nevada real estate mogul Robert Bigelow donated more than $4 million. Most of those funds cannot go to Save America, as MAGA Inc. has a limit on what it can transfer based on what Save America previously gave to the super PAC during the 2022 cycle.
Alex Isenstadt contributed to this report.