Yes, Trump’s PACs really can pay his legal fees

Donald Trump sits in a New York courtroom with Chris Kise and Alina Habba, two of his attorneys who have reportedly been paid with political action committee funds. Shannon Stapleton-Pool/Getty Images by Richard Briffault, Columbia University Campaign finance data released at the end of January 2024 revealed that Save America, a political action committee founded and controlled by former President Donald Trump, spent more than US$50 million in 2023 on legal fees resulting from Trump’s multiple criminal and civil cases. OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan nonprofit tracking campaign funds, found that other Trump-aligned organizations also paid a combined $10 million in additional legal fees for Trump in 2023. 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. The rules about campaign spending 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 “personal...