Trump Is Spending a Lot of Campaign Money on Legal Fees

Among the more notable beneficiaries of Trump’s campaign cash, the most—$347,813—went to Jones Day, a favorite law firm of Trump which represents the campaign, and where White House counsel Don McGahn used to be a partner. Just under $280,000 went to Larocca, Hornik, Rosen, Greenberg & Blaha ($186,278) and the law firm of Charles Harder ($93,181), which are both defending the president in the Stormy Daniels lawsuit.

Another $43,922 went to Belkin, Burden, Wenig & Goldman, which represented Trump in the Trump University lawsuit, $13,468 was paid out to McDermott Will & Emery—whose partner, Stephen Ryan, represents Michael Cohen—and $24,040 went to to the Trump Corporation in legal fees. Other law firms getting a cut were Schertler & Onorato, Seyfarth Shaw, and Van Hoy, Reutlinger, Adams & Dunn.

While this is a pretty sizable amount for a billionaire president to pay for lawyers out of his campaign donations, it’s slightly down from recent filings. New York Times reported in February that Trump spent $1.2 million in the last three months of 2017, raising $15.2 million in that same time period.

Some of the biggest non-legal recipients of the campaign’s spending Trump campaign were the consulting firm of Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale, which was paid close to $1.7 million, and the Trump family’s own businesses, where the campaign spent almost $126,000 between the Trump International Hotel in D.C., rent at Trump Plaza and Trump Tower in New York, and rent and catering at Trump Restaurants. If you count the payout to the Trump Corporation, Trump properties were paid just under $150,000 by the campaign last quarter. Pretty good grift if you can get it.