Trump leadership PAC spent more than $16 million on legal services in 2022
Then-President Donald Trump walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in September 2020. Trump's leadership PAC spent more than $16 million on legal services in 2022.
By Katelyn Polantz, CNN Reporter, Crime and Justice
Donald Trump’s leadership PAC spent more than $16 million on legal services in 2022, according to a tally of the Save America PAC distributions through the end of December. The number represents a massive set of bills from lawyers at a time when the former president faces multiple criminal inquiries, lawsuits and other challenges.
The money appears to be largely geared toward firms representing Trump and his business and family interests. The disbursements show that Save America PAC paid more than $12.5 million to 16 law firms that have aided in his representation, either in the criminal matters or other legal disputes, according to CNN’s review of the data and additional reporting. Some of those law firms also represent others who’ve been sought out as subjects in the inquiries around Trump.
The firm of a Trump defense attorney, Alina Habba, took in nearly $2 million from Save America in 2022. Habba Madaio & Associates has represented him opposite a New York State attorney general probe and in other lawsuits.
Another firm, van der Veen, Hartshorn and Levin, which has lawyers who represented Trump in his 2021 impeachment proceedings and also represented a Trump Organization entity in New York, was paid $1.4 million, according to federal election records. And the two law firms of Trump’s primary criminal defense attorneys, Evan Corcoran and James Trusty, were each paid $1.2 million, Save America PAC reported.
Some law firms receiving Save America’s payments represent close contacts of Trump’s, such as McGuireWoods, which represents his former chief of staff Mark Meadows.
The large law firms McGuireWoods and Squire Patton Boggs, which represents former Trump White House speechwriter staffers, received almost $900,000 and $250,000, respectively, while several smaller law firms that represent key witnesses in ongoing investigations received payments into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In all, nearly 30 law firms received at least $100,000 from Save America PAC.
The-CNN-Wire
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David Wright contributed to this report.
