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[Syriel]

Donald Trump is using money donated to his reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee to pay for his lawyers in the probe of alleged Russian interference in the U.S. election, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The U.S. Federal Election Commission allows the use of private campaign funds to pay legal bills arising from being a candidate or elected official.

While previous presidential campaigns have used these funds to pay for routine legal matters such as ballot access disputes and compliance requirements, Trump would be the first U.S. president in the modern campaign finance era to use such funds to cover the costs of responding to a criminal probe, said election law experts.

Trump also filed for reelection the day he took office in January, two years earlier than any previous president, ensuring a fund of millions in campaign cash would remain at his disposal.

Campaigns also have discretion to pay legal fees for others besides the president.

According to a July filing, the Trump campaign paid $50,000 to the law firm of Alan Futerfas, who is representing Donald Trump Jr. Futerfas did not respond for requests for comment.

A number of other current and former Trump staffers have also recently hired lawyers.

Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...al-bills-from-russia-probe-idUSKCN1BU2OS?il=0

I can understand Trump using campaign cash to pay for legal bills for himself and family. After all, he's never had an issue fleecing donors.

But I am a little surprised that the RNC is willing to cover costs here.

 

[Oersted]

Well we all saw that coming.

Normalization of evil, chapter 45777

 

[Mr. X]

Emptying the RNC war chest would be a blessing.

 

[Cagey]

The most successful grifter in recorded human history.

 

[JABEE]

Keep buying those hats if you want to keep Uncle Don out of the clink.

 

[HStallion]

Maybe they'll try and bribe Mueller in some desperate attempt to shut things down.

 

[Foffy]

Well, he is using literal cancer money here.

Good. Drain their swamp.

 

[Rebel Leader]

He did say he loves using other peoples money

 

[gdt]

Goddamn that's amazing.

 

[Jonnax]

Isn't that what his donors are donating for? Maga hats for his legal fund?

 

[Sephzilla]

I'd laugh if Trump ends up emptying the RNC's bank account for this.

I'd also laugh if the thing that ultimately gets Republicans to impeach Trump is to stop him from taking all of their money

 

[Arttemis]

Let them sink from the weight of legal bills caused by their own supreme leader.

 

[norm9]

That's really smart of him.

 

[iammeiam]

I can kind of see the twisted logic that makes this legal--the Russia stuff is indeed all a part of the campaign and being able to use campaign funds to deal with legal complications from the campaign make sense.

But at the same time the billionaire president of the US is using campaign funds from a reelection 3+ years from now to pay the legal bills his not-part-of-the-government son has incurred due to admittedly meeting with Russia in hopes of getting dirt on Clinton.

And at this point it doesn't even register as shocking. The past ten months have been weird.

 

[CarpeDeezNutz]

Look at Trump trailblazing with all these presidential firsts!

 

[Xe4]

I hope he keeps doing it. Keep your money you fuck, fuck over the RNC.
Do it.

 

[LakeEarth]

Spending someone else's money for his own needs. Classic Trump.

 

[WaterAstro]

Emptying the RNC war chest would be a blessing.

Most of that is from fundraising... which I guess is not bad taking from Trump voters.

 

[Palette Swap]

Emptying the RNC war chest would be a blessing.

Yeah, better this than directly using taxpayer money, which I wouldn't put below him.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

So did he intentionally file for his reelection campaign so early for this purpose, or was it a "happy" coincidence?

 

[Malvolio]

Messing with Republican money?! The one thing they actually care about. Sad!

 

[Slayven]

Down Ballot GOPers better start collecting cans and saving their pocket change

 

[Akuun]

I guess he'll need to start holding some "help me avoid prison" fundraising rallies on top of his "make me feel better about myself because I'm a weak, pathetic piece of shit and I know it" rallies.

 

[XenoRaven]

I would love it if it turned out that the RNC has to help Trump fight this fight because if he goes down, they all go down.

 

[Temascos]

Drain the swamp.

If Obama or the hypothetical Hilary presidency did this it would NEVER stop being talked about anywhere, but I'm guessing this is going to be swept under the radar as quickly as possible.

 

[Xe4]

So did he intentionally file for his reelection campaign so early for this purpose, or was it a "happy" coincidence?

It's mostly so he could continue fundraising and holding rallies because he's an egomaniac. This is just an added benefit.

 

[Dali]

I think the big news here is Trump is paying his employees.

 

[Zen Aku]

So did he intentionally file for his reelection campaign so early for this purpose, or was it a "happy" coincidence?

This ain't no coincidence.

 

[Slayven]

I think the big news here is Trump is paying his employees.

Lawyers seem like the only people he doesn't stiff. Funny thing is I remember an article where the big dog law firms will not touch him or his family with a 100 foot pole, just like banks

 

[PalaceBrother]

Lawyers seem like the only people he doesn't stiff. Funny thing is I remember an article where the big dog law firms will not touch him or his family with a 100 foot pole, just like banks

It's because in most instances you pay lawyers up front. When you're at risk of exceeding your allotted hours you re-up on your retainer.

Failure to continue to pay and the lawyer (at least where I'm from) will notify the bar association that they've stopped working on your file due to failure to pay, just in case the (now fired) client complains.

 

[Lightning_Roller]

Maybe they'll try and bribe Mueller in some desperate attempt to shut things down.

Lol, that would just make things worse for them.

 

[TemplaerDude]

If you're stupid enough to contribute to those terrorists, eh, don't know what else to tell you. Get fucked, I guess.

 

[commedieu]

Drain the swamp.

If Obama or the hypothetical Hilary presidency did this it would NEVER stop being talked about anywhere, but I'm guessing this is going to be swept under the radar as quickly as possible.

I was on Fox news, I know I know, but they are feigning outrage at Obama getting money for speeches.

Yep. It's the first story under him telling it like it is to the UN.

How dare that nig... former president.

 

[Yekshemesh]

Trump supporters on Gaf, please donate your life savings for this man. #MAGA

 

[B-Dubs]

Lawyers seem like the only people he doesn't stiff. Funny thing is I remember an article where the big dog law firms will not touch him or his family with a 100 foot pole, just like banks

Yea, that's because no one wants to take on a case like this one with a client like Trump. Even if you had a client who listened to your advice without question you still might not take the case, but with someone like Trump who ignores advice and has family members that tweet out proof of their wrongdoing? There's not enough money in the world for a headache like that.

 

[kirblar]

His campaign was literally the plot of The Producers.

And now he's in Act II.

 

[Random Painted HIghway]

Yeah, on one hand very scummy, but on the other hand, if these donations would go to support other candidates or the platforms, then I’d rather it go to make attorneys rich.

 

[UberTag]

So did he intentionally file for his reelection campaign so early for this purpose, or was it a "happy" coincidence?

There's a reason why people have clung to the idea that Trump has no intention to run for re-election again in 2020 despite kicking off his campaign on Day 1 of his presidency (back when he was happily lying about crowd sizes).

This is it. And it ain't no "happy" coincidence.

 

[Respect]

Sleezy, but if screws over the GOP who have helped enable this cancer in the WH...

Spoiler

I know the amount is probably incidental, but let me have these small victories.

 

[Bendeavor]

$50k is just pocket change compared to how much the RNC has been pulling in lately. He has to take a lot more than that before they start to care.

I do hope he somehow manages to take all they have. They would deserve it.

 

[CHC]

Screwing over the GOP establishment as well as his moronic supporters, all while accruing more bad press.

Overall, a win.

 

[Dan]

IIRC, we already knew about the campaign paying for Donald Trump Jr's attorney, and what was interesting was that the payment began before everyone claimed Donald Trump found out about the infamous meeting with Russians.

 

[rokkerkory]

Imagine if Hillary did this lol

 

[MIMIC]

So he isn't dipping into the charity fund anymore?

 

[Matt]

Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...al-bills-from-russia-probe-idUSKCN1BU2OS?il=0

I can understand Trump using campaign cash to pay for legal bills for himself and family. After all, he's never had an issue fleecing donors.

But I am a little surprised that the RNC is willing to cover costs here.

Trump, as a Republican President, is also head of the party.

 

[Stinkles]

I think the big news here is Trump is paying his employees.

Lawyers don't mess around. They can even bill per chat if they like. After all their clients are very likely to have no money at the end of a trial. The exceptions are pro bono and cases they take for exposure. This is not one of those.

 

[skullmuffins]

Jeremy Diamond
@JDiamond1

NEW: RNC spent $230,000+ to cover @realDonaldTrump's legal fees tied to Russia probe. $131,250 to Sekulow. $100K to Dowd, per RNC official

There's a reason why people have clung to the idea that Trump has no intention to run for re-election again in 2020 despite kicking off his campaign on Day 1 of his presidency (back when he was happily lying about crowd sizes).

This is it. And it ain't no "happy" coincidence.

I'm not sure the legal fees were part of the strategy from the beginning (probably a consideration), but Trump was 100% planning on using his 2020 campaign funds for personal benefit, even if it was just by funneling that money back into his pocket by renting out Trump properties for events, etc. The Trumps are grifters.

 

[Greigor The Fellhand]

Jeremy Diamond
@JDiamond1

NEW: RNC spent $230,000+ to cover @realDonaldTrump's legal fees tied to Russia probe. $131,250 to Sekulow. $100K to Dowd, per RNC official

so did the RNC also cover the legal fees for trumps family and friends, and former and current staff members?

 

[Laevateinn]

Down Ballot GOPers better start collecting cans and saving their pocket change

This is great news. I hope some campaign finance laws were broken too.

 

[fallengorn]

Not surprising one bit.