Legal spending by Trump group accelerated in February -disclosures

In a filing to the Federal Election Commission, the group, known as Save America, detailed legal expense outlays totaling more than $5.5 million in February, the biggest single month of such spending since Trump, a Republican, formed the organization in 2020 following his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in that year's presidential election. The spending marked an acceleration from the close to $3 million Save America reported spending on legal bills in January.

A fundraising group run by Donald Trump, who is facing four criminal trials as he seeks the U.S. presidency, stepped up spending on legal fees last month, further draining money from efforts to return him to the White House, financial disclosures showed on Wednesday. In a filing to the Federal Election Commission, the group, known as Save America, detailed legal expense outlays totaling more than $5.5 million in February, the biggest single month of such spending since Trump, a Republican, formed the organization in 2020 following his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in that year's presidential election.

The spending marked an acceleration from the close to $3 million Save America reported spending on legal bills in January. The group, which raises money together with Trump's election campaign but is legally separate, has now spent more than $55 million on legal bills since the start of 2023. Trump is facing dozens of charges, with two of the cases against him tied to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. He has plead innocent to all the charges.

Trump clinched enough delegates this month in the Republican nomination contest to be the party's nominee in the November presidential election, setting up a rematch against Biden. Save America's filing on Wednesday, together with another filed by an allied group, also showed how the legal bills are hitting the accounts backing his White House bid.

Save America's main income during the month was a $5 million refund of money largely raised from small donors that it transferred in 2022 to the main super PAC backing Trump, MAGA Inc. The super PAC, a kind of political action committee (PAC) that can take unlimited contributions from wealthy donors, has now returned most the $60 million it received from Save America, meaning it has had less to spend supporting Trump. LEGAL FEES VS. CAMPAIGN

With Save America potentially seeing its cash dwindle, Trump's options for payment of legal bills is somewhat limited, said Saurav Ghosh, an attorney with the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan watchdog. Trump could legally use funds in his campaign committee to pay legal bills tied to his political campaigns or duties as president, but not personal ones, Ghosh said.

"The question is: To what extent is he willing to tap into that and endanger his ability to compete in the 2024 presidential election?" Ghosh said. To be sure, Trump and the Republican National Committee this month launched a joint fundraising committee that includes Save America as a beneficiary, potentially providing a new stream of money to pay lawyers.

The refund from MAGA Inc to Save America was equivalent to nearly half of the $12.8 million the group raised from mostly wealthy donors during the month, which included a $5 million contribution from hotelier Robert Bigelow, the super PAC's disclosure showed. Bigelow told Reuters in January he intended to donate $20 million in total to the group. In addition to its spending, Save America also reported a debt obligation of more than $500,000 to a legal firm that has been representing Trump, telling the Federal Election Commission it owed the firm for "legal consulting."

TRUMP TRAILS BIDEN Separately, Trump's campaign told the Federal Election Commission it raised $10.9 million February, an increase from the $8.8 million it took in the prior month.

Trump has trailed Biden in fundraising throughout the campaign cycle. Biden's campaign is also due later on Wednesday to report to the Federal Election Commission on its finances. Trump has shown he can win elections when outspent by rivals, even when some big anti-Trump donors have tried to stop him this cycle. In past elections, however, he has not had to wrestle with massive legal expenses.