Trump finalizes deal with the Republican National Committee that will help pay his legal fees after daughter-in-law Lara took top role

Donald Trump's newly formed Trump 47 joint fundraising committee will be sending a portion of campaign donations to the Save America political action committee, which has been used predominantly to help pay for the ex-president's mounting legal bills. 

According to a copy of an invitation to major donors, the Trump 47 donations will first be distributed to the Trump campaign, followed by Save America PAC, which is a leadership PAC.

Once donors hit their maximum contribution limits, then the money will go to the Republican National Committee (RNC) followed by Republican state parties. The prioritization of Save America was first reported by the Associated Press.

The breakdown in order is a departure from the norm for political donations to joint fundraising committees, where the order typically starts with the candidates campaign, then the national party and then state parties, not leadership PACs. 

But the ex-president is facing mounting legal bills from a series of civil and criminal cases and the Save America PAC has spend tens of millions on lawyers including nearly $5.6 million last month alone. 

Former President Trump sitting in court in October 2023. His new Trump 47 joint fundraising committee directs funds toward Trump's campaign and leadership PAC before money goes to the RNC and state parties

Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump was elected earlier this month as co-chair of the Republican National Committee. She previously said she believes voters would support the RNC paying Trump legal bills 

In the invitation for an April 6 mega donor event hosted by hedge fund billionaire John Paulson, the maximum donation is $814,600 a person. A maximum of $5,000 of that can go to the leadership PAC, before the money goes to other party committees, so only a fraction of major donations would go to what has been primarily used as the legal slush fund, but it would take on a larger percentage of smaller donations. 

 'Save America also covers a very active and robust post-Presidency office and other various expenses not related to fighting the illegal witch-hunts perpetrated by Crooked Joe Biden,' said Steven Cheung, Trump campaign communications director in a statement. 

 'The Trump campaign, the RNC, and state GOP parties ultimately receive the overwhelming majority of funds raised through the Trump 47 Committee. Out of an Individual donor’s maximum contribution of $824,600, less than 1% (.006%) goes to Save America,' he added.

It comes after Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump, wife of Eric Trump, was recently elected co-chair of the RNC earlier this month and Trump loyalist Michael Whatley was elected national chairman, completing Trump's influence over the party. 

Days later Trump also clinched the necessary delegates to be GOP presidential nominee for a third time, which will become official at the convention in July.

Trump's campaign said he has a combined $41.9 million cash on hand at the end of February. Biden's campaign announced he had a combined $155 million cash on hand 

But the ex-president has been struggling with fundraising as he heads into the general election season and his legal bills are piling up. 

President Biden reported a combined $155 million campaign war chest at the end of February while Trump had a combine $41.9 million cash on hand. 

Of Save America PAC's total spending last month, 85 percent of it went to legal bills and it still owed the law firm of Alina Habba more than half a million dollars. Last year it spent nearly $50 million on legal bills. 

Trump is facing 88 charges in four criminal cases which could start going to trial later this year just as the presidential race should be heating up.

At the same time, Trump was hit with a $464 million judgement in the New York fraud case and is struggling to secure a bond by Monday. He also was ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll $83 million in the defamation case. 

While Biden has completely dwarfed Trump in fundraising so far, filings show the RNC is also cash strapped. It had just over $11 million cash on hand at the end of February, less than half of what Democrats had. 

Before being unanimously elected RNC co-chair, Lara Trump said at a campaign event that she thinks voters would support having the RNC pay the former president's ballooning legal fees. 

She said it would get broad support among GOP voters who see the legal cases as 'an attack.'

The RNC had been paying some of Trump's legal bills before he was a presidential candidate, but previous RNC Chair  Ronna McDaniel said in 2022 that would stop once he was a candidate. 

President Biden's joint fundraising committee, the Biden Victory Fund, has a traditional cash flow by comparison. The money goes to the presidential campaign and then the Democratic National Committee before flowing to state parties.