FEC Filings Show Trump’s PAC Is Cash-Strapped Due to Legal Fees, While DeSantis’s Is Rolling in Dough

The latest Federal Election Commission filings for political action committees show that President Trump’s supporting committees are burning through money and Governor DeSantis’s is sitting relatively pretty.Despite the many headlines concerning Mr. DeSantis’s actual campaign burning through money earlier this month, committees supporting Mr. Trump are doing so even faster.FEC filings for Mr. Trump’s principal leadership committee, the Save America PAC, show that after beginning the year with $18 million in cash on hand, the committee is down to $3.6 million, despite raising some $30 million since January 1. While some $5.8 million was transferred to other committees, Mr. Trump’s leadership PAC still spent some $24.3 million in the first six months of the year, with legal fees accounting for $21 million of that spending.All told, the president’s joint fundraising committee, which raised $46 million itself, his leadership PAC, and his campaign have spent some $57 million since the beginning of the year — the vast majority of it defending their candidate against the various legal hurdles he faces.The filings show that the Save America PAC also requested a $60 million refund of a donation it made to another Trump-affiliated super PAC. It received the the refund in multiple installments.The filing doesn’t describe why the refund was requested, though, like much of the cash managed by the Save America PAC, there’s a good chance it will be directed toward covering legal fees.Mr. Trump’s PAC also received $1 million from son-in-law Jared Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, whom Mr. Trump pardoned for federal crimes late in his presidency.While the lion’s share of the spending has gone toward legal fees, significant amounts of cash have been directed toward production services, strategy consulting, travel expenses, and other typical campaign expenses.Some of the luxuries the political committee dished out for include the services of stylist Hervé Pierre Braillard, who provided $108,000 worth of services, according to filings.Mr. Braillard earned some $18,000 a month, likely doing styling for first lady Melania Trump. Mr. Braillard also worked with Mrs. Trump during her time at the White House. Mrs. Trump has not publicly campaigned with her husband so far this year.The infrastructure supporting Mr. Trump isn’t the only organization to have its details aired in new filings. Mr. DeSantis’s principal committee, the Never Back Down PAC, disclosed its biggest donors in its first filing since Mr. DeSantis was announced as a presidential candidate.The committee, which has received $130 million since its launch, ended the quarter with $97 million in cash. Much of this money, $82.5 million, was transferred from a PAC that supported Mr. DeSantis as governor. While Mr. DeSantis’s campaign committee is relatively light on cash, the Never Back Down PAC, to which much of the work of a traditional campaign has been delegated, is well funded.Mr. DeSantis does enjoy the support of some big donors, with the mogul behind Budget Suits, Robert Bigelow, being the biggest among them, giving $20 million last quarter. On the Democratic side, attorney Robert Kennedy Jr.’s associated PAC, American Values 2024, raised about $10 million, with $5 million coming from a major GOP donor, Timothy Mellon. He is a businessman and the owner of Pan Am Systems, a company with businesses in rail transportation, real estate, and manufacturing.A major Democratic PAC that has pledged some $75 million to support Democrats in 2024, Priorities USA Action, has raised just $1 million so far.The Future Forward PAC, another major Democratic PAC supporting President Biden’s re-election campaign, which spent more than $150 million in 2020, hasn’t yet spun up its fundraising machine and reported raising less than $1 million so far this cycle.In terms of congressional fundraising committees, the House Majority PAC, the House Democratic leadership super PAC, raised $20 million in the first six months of the year. The Republican counterpart, the Congressional Leadership Fund, raised $19 million.The Senate Majority PAC, the Democratic Senate super PAC, raised $37 million in preparation for a defense of multiple vulnerable incumbents this cycle. The Senate Leadership Fund, its Republican counterpart, raised $10 million.Between the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and the Democratic National Committee, that party raised $38.6 million.Between the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the Republican National Committee, the GOP raised $32.3 million.

FEC Filings Show Trump’s PAC Is Cash-Strapped Due to Legal Fees, While DeSantis’s Is Rolling in Dough

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