Legal fees eat into Donald Trump’s funds as Joe Biden ups campaign spend
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Donald Trump has been forced to scale back spending on his campaign as legal fees eat up three-quarters of the cash brought in by a key fundraising group.
The former president, whose hush money trial will begin hearing evidence in New York on Monday, is directing roughly the same amount of money to his legal troubles as he is to convincing voters ahead of November’s election.
Figures released by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) revealed that Save America, one of the political action committees that funds Mr Trump’s campaign, spent nearly $3.7 million on legal-related expenses in March. That amounted to nearly three in every four dollars it raised.
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign spent the same amount, $3.7 million, on getting out the vote last month, the figures showed.
That left the presumptive Republican nominee far behind Joe Biden, who spent $29.2 million on his campaign in March, including a barrage of media buys in swing states.
The figures will concern Republican leaders, as Mr Trump’s ability to campaign in person will be limited over the next six to eight weeks, as he is forced to attend court in New York every day except Wednesday.
It comes as polls show that Mr Biden has cut Mr Trump’s lead significantly since February, with the New York Times showing him just one point behind, compared to five at the beginning of the year.
Mr Trump emphasised the impact the New York court case would have on his campaign in his latest fundraising email on Sunday. “In just 24 hours I’ll be back in Biden’s corrupt court to fight for my freedom – and yours,” supporters were told as they were asked to chip in what they could.
“The biggest impact is that it is keeping him in the news for something bad and preventing him from doing normal campaign stuff,” said Christopher Galdieri, professor of politics at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.
“Biden was in Pennsylvania, which is the swing state of swing states for days.
“It has to be terrible and frustrating for [Mr Trump]. He looks miserable and is bored out of his mind. He is realising this is his life for the next month or so.”
Apart from lambasting the trial when he arrives at court, the former president has reached out to voters with visits to fast-food restaurants, where startled customers have been given a close-up view of the presumptive presidential nominee.
Last week, Mr Trump descended on a Chick-fil-A in Atlanta and bought a round of 30 milkshakes for startled diners.
These pit stops, in which Mr Trump signed autographs, have gone viral and have been seen by millions of voters on social media.
Details from the FEC filings show that Mr Trump’s political committees have spent $16.7 million on legal fees this year, with more than $50 million from Trump-supporting Maga Inc, which was earmarked for campaigning, being transferred to help Save America meet the legal bills.
The impact of the Trump cash crunch will also be felt by Republican candidates with the Republican National Committee prioritising Save America – now used exclusively for legal fees – ahead of the needs of candidates in congressional races.
Spending by the respective campaigns in recent months has illustrated the extent of Mr Trump’s difficulties.
His team spent $6 million on media advertising since the beginning of the year, compared with $45.2 million by the Biden team.
While Trump campaign spending has slowed down, Biden’s has increased sharply with, for example, $6.9 million being poured into a text-messaging blitz.
Evidence from former fixer
Mr Trump will be the centre of media attention on Monday with the start of the hush money trial, investigating allegations he falsified business records to cover up a payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
Much will hinge on the evidence from Mr Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, who was jailed for his part in the alleged scheme to pay off Ms Daniels.
The 77-year-old former president has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges.
Alan Dershowitz, who defended Trump in his impeachment trial, said that the 12 jurors selected for the case did not bode well for the former president.
“This is a bad jury for Donald Trump,” he said, arguing that the “best he’s likely to do is a hung jury”.
“I think it’s too much of a New York Times, TikTok jury. This is maybe the best you can do with a New York jury pool, but it’s not a good jury for Donald Trump.”
