Trump's staggering legal debts come to light in new campaign filings
The extent of Donald Trump staggering legal costs came to light in recent filings with the Federal Election Commission.
The filings show the Save America leadership PAC, which Trump has used as a legal slush fund, owes $1.1 million to five different law firms and last month paid nearly $3.3 million more for legal consulting, with its biggest debt – $837,000 – owed to Blanche Law, the firm founded by his lead counsel in the hush money trial, reported The Daily Beast.
The PAC paid nearly $854,000 to defense counsel Todd Blanche's firm over two weeks in April, when his Manhattan criminal trial began, and the attorney also represents him in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case and his federal election interference case in D.C.
Save America also owes $168,000 in debt from last month to a firm associated with Steven Yurowitz, another attorney on the hush money case, and $96,000 to Dhillon Law Group, the firm founded by California Republican National Committee member Harmeet Dhillon, who last year ran unsuccessfully for RNC chair.
ALSO READ: What Trump's weird WWE Hall of Fame speech tells us about his presidential debate strategy
Dhillon told The Daily Beast the PAC was current in all of its obligations to the firm and she was "proud" to have them as a client.
The PAC's legal debt jumped by $245,000 from March to April, but the filings also showed it had paid off some of those debts and eliminated its debt to the law firm Robert & Robert for its work on the New York fraud case.
Save America paid close to $3.3 million to nearly a dozen firms for legal consulting in April, including more than half a million dollars to Chris Kise, who has worked on both the hush money and classified documents cases, and $390,000 to John Lauro, who is working with Blanche on the election interference case.
The PAC also paid $174,000 to James Otis Law Group LLC, the firm founded by D. John Sauer, who argued Trump's immunity claim before the U.S. Supreme Court, and $140,000 to the firm belonging to Trump lawyer and spokesperson Alina Habba.