Trump’s Cash Pile Shrinks as Legal Fights Ramp Up: Filings

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump gestures to supporters during an election night watch party at the State Fairgrounds in Columbia, S.C., on Feb. 24, 2024. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Can former President Donald Trump add cash to his long list of problems?

On Feb. 20, three of the organizations supporting President Trump’s third run for the White House issued their monthly financial statements with the Federal Election Commission.

Those groups, the principal campaign committee Donald J. Trump for President 2024 Inc., the unauthorized super political action committee (PAC) Make America Great Again Inc., and the qualified leadership PAC Save America said they collectively earned about $21.2 million in total receipts.

The groups spent far more than they earned, however. The trio reported spending about $52.2 million. However, they retained about $47.7 million in cash on hand.

That amount is far ahead of the about $14.9 million the groups backing former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley reported in their January filings. However, it is much lower than the more than $130 million the Biden campaign said it had on hand at the end of January.

The only part of President Joe Biden’s reelection effort to report in January—principal campaign committee Biden for President—reported it had nearly $56 million on hand.

Significant elements of both the 45th and 46th president’s financial networks were not disclosed in that release, however. The complete picture of their finances likely won’t come into focus until April 15, the FEC filing deadline for committees reporting on a quarterly basis.

Former First Lady Melania Trump and former President Donald J. Trump attend an event organized by Trumpettes USA at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Feb. 10, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Biggest Supporters

In January, the largest donor to Save America was MAGA Inc., which sent it $5 million in a transaction that was classified as a “refund of federal contribution” with the FEC. The transfer accounted for almost all of the money Save America brought in January.

MAGA Inc., for its part, brought in three significant checks in January.

The largest donation, of $5 million, came from wealthy investor Timothy Mellon. Mr. Mellon sent $5 million to a PAC supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent run for the White House in the same month.

Mr. Mellon, according to federal records, sent $10 million to MAGA Inc. in the last six months of 2023.

Mr. Mellon, an heir of the Mellon family, is a prominent Republican donor who has regularly made multimillion-dollar contributions to Republican groups such as the Congressional Leadership Fund and the Senate Leadership Fund, according to donor records maintained by watchdog group OpenSecrets.

Ahead of the 2020 election, Mr. Mellon contributed $20 million to America First Action, a super PAC opposing then-candidate Joe Biden.

According to Forbes, the Mellon family is worth an estimated $14.1 billion.

Geoffrey Palmer sent the second-largest donation. He donated $1 million to MAGA Inc. in January.

Mr. Palmer is the owner of the California-based real estate development firm G. H. Palmer Associates. He was a major donor to America First Action.

Mr. Palmer gave more than $10 million to America First Action between 2017 and 2020, according to OpenSecrets records. Moreover, he’s a regular large donor to national and California Republican causes.

Finally, MAGA Inc. collected a $750,000 donation from Howard Lutnick, the chairman and CEO of financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald LP. According to federal records, Mr. Lutnick gave the super PAC $250,000 in December 2023, too.

According to OpenSecrets records, Mr. Lutnick is a regular donor to the Republican Party and related conservative causes. However, he has also sporadically supported Democrats in New York and New Jersey. Mr. Lutnick has made $1 million in donations to the Republican-aligned Senate Leadership Fund and Congressional Leadership Fund.

Mr. Lutnick has not previously supported President Trump. In fact, donor records show he sent money to a super PAC boosting former Florida governor Jeb Bush in 2015. However, in 2019, he reportedly hosted a fundraiser for President Trump.

Representatives of Mr. Palmer and Mr. Lutnick did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

Former President Donald Trump holds a pair of gold Trump sneakers at SneakerCon in Philadelphia on Feb. 17, 2024. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo)

Legal Spending and Transfers

At least one financial body tied to President Trump, his principal campaign committee, has access to far less cash than it did the last time he ran for the White House.

According to FEC records for January 2020, the proceeding organization—Donald J. Trump For President Inc.—had about $92.6 million on hand.

For comparison, when President Trump was an upstart candidate who had yet to secure the nomination in 2016, his campaign committee had about $1.6 million on hand at the end of January, according to FEC records.

In 2020, President Trump was not embroiled in the sprawling legal challenges he now faces. The Epoch Times previously reported the three campaign funds that were disclosed on Feb. 20 reported spending more than $3.6 million on legal bills in January.

In a campaign message, Nikki Haley for President Inc. called attention to $5 million Save America sent to a qualified unauthorized PAC called Make America Great Again PAC. The Haley campaign asserted the transfer was equivalent to another legal expense.

MAGA PAC, according to the statement of organization filed with the FEC, shares a treasurer—Bradley T. Crate—and address with Donald J. Trump for President 2024 Inc., Save America, and the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee.

MAGA PAC, which reports on a quarterly basis in 2024, did not file on Tuesday.

However, FEC records show the PAC spent about $7.7 million on legal services and reimbursements for legal services in 2023. That would bring the total legal bill paid by President Trump’s allied PACs last year to about $55 million.

On top of that, President Trump is now facing a bill of more than $500 million in damages from two judgments leveled against him. One, $83 million for the E. Jean Carroll case, and another, of more than $450 million, for his civil fraud trial.