Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump declined to say how much of the money would go towards former President Trump’s legal costs.
The former president scrambled to raise funds following the jury’s verdict last week, raising about $35 million in the day after he was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Lara Trump said Sunday that the Republican National Committee raised $70 million in the first 48 hours after the verdict was read.
CNN’s Casey Hunt later pressed her on how much of the money would go to Trump’s legal costs, as he currently faces three criminal cases and 54 criminal charges across them.
“Well, anybody who donates to our Community Chest Compact has the option to opt out at any time. It’s a very small percentage of the money that we raise. So, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what the need is going to be,” Lara Trump said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“Obviously, this was a tremendous loss not just to Donald Trump and his campaign, but to America as a whole. I think the stain this has on our country is abhorrent, and we will do whatever it takes to make sure the right thing is done on November 5th, because that’s the day the final verdict will be handed down,” she added.
The Trump campaign has spent about $30 million on legal expenses in the second half of 2022. A fundraising arrangement with the Republican National Committee means donations are sent to his campaign and political action committee to cover legal costs before reaching the party itself.
A resolution introduced earlier this year to ban the Republican National Committee from covering Trump’s legal costs failed to garner enough support to bring it to a vote. Lara Trump, who became the party’s chair earlier this year, has also said she would use “every penny” of the RNC’s funds to help her father-in-law win in November.
