Former President Donald Trump appears during a court hearing on charges of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star before the 2016 election in New York State Supreme Court on February 15. Pool Photo by Brendan McDermid/UPI | License Photo
Feb. 29 (UPI) — Campaign finance data released at the end of January revealed that Save America, a political action committee founded and controlled by former President Donald Trump, spent more than $50 million in 2023 on legal fees resulting from Trump’s multiple criminal and civil cases. OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization tracking campaign funds, found that other Trump-aligned organizations also paid a combined $10 million in additional legal fees for Trump in 2023. Advertisement
Though I have spent much of my career as a scholar of campaign finance law, I’m not certain whether that use of campaign donations is legal under federal election law. It might be; it might not be. But if it’s not, I deem it unlikely that the Federal Election Commission, which enforces campaign finance laws, would take any action.
Campaign spending rules
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As a general rule, campaign contributions may be used only for election-related expenses. They are not for the personal use of a candidate or federal officeholder. Federal regulations define