A non-profit organization operating in Trump’s circles and raising money for the ostensible purpose of covering legal expenses for “patriots” — with an eye towards the former president himself didn’t seem to actually spend anything on legal defenses over a recently concluding period of six months, per a new report from The Daily Beast.
The publication describes the fund as “for” Trump. The organization is termed the Patriot Legal Defense Fund, originated in July, and is tied to individuals who’ve been involved with Trump’s campaign. In six months, it raised about $1.6 million per reports made with the IRS, and it only spent $28,578 — a large portion of which was doled out at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida resort where he has spent a considerable amount of time since leaving the presidency and was found to be harboring government documents. (The latter circumstances spurred one of Trump’s federal criminal cases.)
“It’s unclear why the fund reported no legal expenses. Trump has been hemorrhaging cash for years due to ever-mounting legal fees, and that pressure has only increased after the PLDF launched in July,” The Daily Beast said. Trump faces a total of four criminal cases combined with wide-ranging civil proceedings, including the currently unfolding fraud trial in New York and forthcoming, additional proceedings related to the defamation claims he’s faced from writer E. Jean Carroll, who also accused the ex-president of sexual misconduct. A jury largely backed her claims, awarding large financial penalties though proceedings continue.
The largest portion of the money the group raised came from a fund tied to Caryn and Michael Borland, big-money donors in Republican circles who have expressed support for the conspiracy theory known as QAnon to the point that the Trump campaign cancelled a fundraiser the two were meant to hold before the 2020 election. Trump, who has reported income in connection to an NFT operation before — meaning an endeavor selling off what were loosely described as digital trading cards, is now selling (through whatever chain of intermediaries are operating here) alleged pieces of the suit he wore while getting arrested in his Georgia case.
