Top Republican attends Trump trial. Who’s paying for it?

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson attended the Manhattan trial Monday where former president Donald Trump is being criminally prosecuted for falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal.

Wilson, and a handful of U.S. Congress members, are the latest in a list of Republican politicians to appear in New York at Trump’s trial.

Wilson’s office said all costs associated were covered through the attorney general’s campaign fund.

Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, which are connected to Trump’s role in paying porn star Stormy Daniels hush-money to cover up a sexual liaison. Trump is the first president to be criminally prosecuted.

Wilson is active in voicing conservative principles online and in-person, including his support for Trump. Wilson is widely seen as a potential South Carolina 2026 gubernatorial candidate. He endorsed Trump ahead of the primary and attended his S.C. rally in Summerville in Sept. 2023. Wilson has also spoke in favor of the former president on state house grounds at a Trump event, where immigration and the southern border were topics.

When Colorado made efforts to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot, Wilson spoke out against it.

“Simply, states do not have the power to keep Trump off the ballot. Period. These efforts are fueled by partisan politics and not the rule of law,” Wilson said in a press release.