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About 25 Percent of Trump's Re-Election Spending Goes to Lawyers
President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign raised $15.2 million in the last three months of last year and spent $1.2 million on legal fees — with much of the cash going to law firms responding to investigations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election — according to campaign finance reports.
Trump and his team have been working to woo donors of the sort who were slow to embrace Trump. One of the joint committees paid $7,000 last month for catering and facility rental at Wynn Las Vegas, the casino hotel founded by Stephen Wynn, who had served as the finance chairman of the Republican National Committee until stepping down last week after being accused of sexual misconduct.
The top donor to Trump was New York private equity executive Stephen A. Schwarzman, who gave $344,000 to Trump Victory. Dallas oil heir Al G. Hill Jr. donated $200,000 in October, before dying in December at 72.
A considerable portion of the money raised in the fourth quarter, more than $4 million, came from supporters who gave $200 or less.
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Legal fees were among the biggest expenses detailed in Wednesday’s reports, accounting for about 25 percent of all the $4.7 million spent by Trump’s campaign and its two joint committees with the Republican National Committee.
The legal bills highlight the degree to which Trump’s preparations for a re-election bid in 2020 have been shadowed by the investigations being pursued by congressional committees and the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and connections between Russia, Trump and his associates.
It is not possible to determine definitively how much of the spending by Trump’s campaign went toward responding to the Russia inquiries.
Jones Day, the law firm that received the largest share of legal fees — $852,000 — in the reports, represents the campaign in matters related to election and campaign finance law, as well as litigation stemming from the campaign.
The second biggest recipient of legal fees — McDermott Will & Emery, which was paid $214,000 — is representing Michael D. Cohen, Trump’s lawyer and adviser, in the Russia investigations.
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Michael Glassner, the executive director of the Trump campaign, did not respond to an email asking whether the campaign was covering Cohen’s legal costs.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
KENNETH P. VOGEL and RACHEL SHOREY © 2018 The New York Times
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