Our most recent book is titled Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics. Among other things, it discusses party organizations and campaign finance.
Two of Trump’s political action committees spent a combined $55.6 million on legal costs in 2023, as Trump faces major judgments against him in civil court as well as his continuing defense against four criminal indictments.
That’s about a quarter of all the money raised across Trump’s various committees. And that’s before many of Trump’s most significant legal battles — his criminal trials — truly touch off. Legal spending also accelerated somewhat in the second half of 2023, putting Trump on pace to spend about as much on legal fees in 2024 as his various entities currently have in cash reserves: $70 million.
The impact of the legal spending is particularly acute for Trump’s leadership PAC, Save America. It boasted a $100 million war chest as of early 2022. At the end of 2023, it was left with just more than $5.1 million in cash — after raising just $6 million and spending $26 million on legal costs in the second half of the year.
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And the Republican National Committee is on its worst financial footing in a long time. It had just $8 million in cash at the end of 2023, having spent more than it raised for the year. According to campaign finance expert Rob Pyers, 2023 was its worst fundraising year since 2013 in terms of raw dollars and its worst since 1993 when you adjust for inflation.
