Donald Trump’s court battles boost and drain his campaign coffers

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Donald Trump’s legal battles have become the biggest cost for his election campaign as well as the greatest motivator for his grassroots supporters to donate, according to federal filings released late on Wednesday.

The former US president received his biggest influx of small donations on August 25, after he surrendered to authorities in Atlanta on felony charges that he sought to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia. His mugshot was released to the public, and the Trump campaign put the photo on T-shirts and mugs.

About 85,000 contributions were made, roughly 10 times more than Trump groups receive on a typical day, bringing in almost $4.3mn. Fundraising has also surged after news of each of the four criminal cases prosecutors brought against the former president last year.

But the Trump election effort has also spent more than $52mn on legal fees in 2023, about 30 per cent of what it raised, and many millions more than pro-Trump groups spent on traditional campaign functions such as online advertising, digital consulting and renting fundraising lists. The groups spent $166mn overall.

Trump, President Joe Biden and their affiliated super-political action committees raised comparable amounts in 2023, about $189mn and $202mn, respectively. But Biden groups have $118mn cash on hand, while Trump groups have just $66mn — a difference equal to the sum the latter have spent on legal advice.

Trump faces a civil case that threatens his business empire, as well as four criminal cases.

In the first of the criminal cases, in Manhattan, Trump was accused of falsifying business records to cover up “hush money” payments to a porn star before the 2016 election. In the second, Department of Justice special…