Former President Donald Trump remains a billionaire who owns mansions, golf courses, and commercial real estate. Earlier this month, Forbes.com reported, however, that Trump isn’t quite as rich as he boasts, or as poor as his critics claim. According to the most recent tally, conducted in March of this year, Donald Trump is worth around $2.5 billion.
Yet, as his legal problems are piling up, so too are his legal bills. That could hurt his chances to reclaim the White House, even as it might not hurt his personal bank account.
Trump famously claimed in a 2016 presidential debate with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that his paying little in federal income taxes “makes me smart,” and according to a report from The New York Times, he’s apparently not footing all of the legal bills out of his own pocket.
“New financial reports show that the former president’s various political committees and the super PAC backing him have used roughly 30 cents of every dollar spent so far this year on legal-related costs. The total amounts to more than $27 million in legal fees and other investigation-related bills in the first six months of 2023,” the paper of record reported on Friday.
Trump has paid at least eight law firms more than $1 million each in the first half of 2023, which is just a portion of the sizeable legal bills that are only expected to spiral upward in the coming months as he is facing criminal cases at both the state and federal level. The New York Times added that these latest disclosures also revealed a “remarkable degree” to which Trump’s political and legal cash are intermingled – much like his own political and legal fate, the paper also noted.
Donald Trump Points Fingers
The former president on Saturday blasted the Democrats for the legal fees that the campaign is being forced to spend.
“The Lunatic Left, working closely with Crooked Joe Biden and his corrupt DOJ, is not only focusing on Election Interference, but on getting the Trump Campaign to spend vast amounts of money on legal fees, thereby having less to spend on ads showing that Crooked Joe is the WORST PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The Washington Post had first reported that the former president’s Save America PAC shrank from over $100 million at the beginning of last year to just $3.6 million, with a large share of its war chest going to legal fees. Federal Election Committee (FEC) filings showed that Save America and five other Trump committees have already spent more than $40 million in legal fees since the start of 2021.
The Fees Will Continue to Pile Up
Those legal bills are only going to increase as Trump is facing federal charges in Washington, D.C., and Florida over his efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election, along with the charges he also faces for mishandling classified materials.
In addition, Trump was indicted in Manhattan over a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, while a potential fourth indictment could come at any moment in Georgia. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is preparing to present her case to a grand jury this week. She has been investigating the former president and his allies for their role in attempting to overturn the election results in Georgia.
Will Trump Have to Open his Wallet?
The mounting legal woes could keep Donald Trump off the campaign trail, but could also drain his coffers. As The New York Times also reported, the former president is now spending more than it is taking in, and the burn rate could become untenable.
This also comes as big-ticket donors have largely taken a wait-and-see approach, while some large donors have even announced they’d back other Republican candidates. Billionaire Charles Koch is now actively spending his money to derail Trump’s campaign.
As a result of less money coming in and more going out, Trump may need to dip into his own fortune to pay for his lawyers, the 2024 campaign, or both. Moreover, some critics have contended that Trump is only running for president at this point to raise money for his legal defenses and to stay out of jail, not to actually return to the White House.
Author Experience and Expertise
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
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