President Donald Trump is mounting his legal defense in key battleground states as officials continue the arduous process of tallying the absentee and mail-in votes that will decide the 2020 presidential election.
Lawsuits have been filed in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada and Georgia, and Trump’s legal team is searching for an inroad in Wisconsin. The litigation is part of his campaign’s larger plan to dismantle the counting process for thousands of early and absentee ballots that political experts have said are likely to aid his opponent, Democratic nominee Joe Biden, McClatchy reported.
“We’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court, we want all voting to stop,” Trump said early Wednesday while prematurely declaring his victory.
Biden has responded in kind by expanding his legal team and resources in what one of his campaign advisers called a “massive election protection program,” ABC News reported in September.
But court proceedings are expensive, and some have questioned who will foot bill.
Who pays for election lawsuits?
Trump has been accused of funneling millions of government dollars toward his own personal properties and businesses by performing his official duties there, The Washington Post reported in October. But unlike ballot recounts in certain states, election lawsuits aren’t funded by taxpayers.
Instead, the Federal Election Commission dictates campaign funds can be used to cover legal expenses on a case-by-case basis, specifically to “defray expenses incurred in proceedings that directly relate to the candidate’s campaign activities or officeholder duties,” according to its website.
National party committees — such as the Republican National Committee — can also “set up dedicated legal funds that permit donors to give up to $106,500 each, so long as all agree the money will be spent on election-related legal expenses,” ABC News reported in September. Party committees can also pay legal bills from their general accounts.
The Trump campaign as well as Vice President Mike Pence have been soliciting donations to shore up his legal fund, The Wall Street Journal reported citing an email blast that went out to potential donors some time after 4 a.m. Wednesday.
“The Democrats will try to STEAL the Election! President Trump needs YOU to step up and DEFEND the results,” the email read, according to the Journal. They also offered to match donations by 1,000%.
Biden is similarly asking for donations to bolster his defenses.
“To make sure every vote is counted, we’re setting up the largest election protection effort ever assembled,” the former vice president said in a tweet Wednesday. “Because Donald Trump doesn’t get to decide the outcome of this election — the American people do. Chip in to power the new Biden Fight Fund.”
Mounting legal fees for Trump’s reelection campaign
Using campaign funds to pay legal fees is typical. An analysis of Federal Election Commission records by Bloomberg Law in July 2019 showed former Democratic candidates Kirsten Gillibrand, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal services during their unsuccessful presidential campaigns.
But Trump has a litigious history, and
since taking office, his reelection campaign has continued to rack up millions of dollars in fees.
Campaign finance records show the campaign spent more than $8 million between January 2017 and April 2019 — including $1.7 million spent in the first three months of 2019 alone, ABC News found in a report last year. By comparison, President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign spent $2.7 million in legal fees over the same two years of his first term.
In total, ABC News reported Trump’s reelection campaign, the Republican National Committee and joint fundraising committees have shelled out $50 million on law firms since 2016. Still, the RNC says it is more than prepared for the post-election legal battle.
“At the RNC, we have been clear we will spend whatever it takes to protect the integrity of the ballot,” RNC spokesperson Mike Reed told ABC News in a statement. “We are in a strong financial position and have the resources to continue this fight post-election day. We expect Democrats to try every trick in the book to bend the rules in their favor – we plan to be there in court to stop them.”
