The $1.1 million the campaign spent on lawyers during the third quarter of the year is nearly double what the president's fundraising committee spent on legal fees during the previous three-month period, campaign reports filed Sunday show. They include more than $237,900 to Alan Futerfas, the New York lawyer representing Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, in the Russia probes.
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It's legal for the president to tap donors' money for legal expenses, provided they are related to the political campaign. Senate investigators last month questioned the younger Trump about his 2016 meeting with a Russian attorney he expected would deliver dirt about his father's rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The Trump campaign's growing legal bills account for more than a quarter of the nearly $4.1 million it spent during the July-to-September quarter. The campaign raised $10.1 million during that period, surpassing the previous quarter's nearly $8 million haul.
The campaign started this month still having more than $18 million in cash reserves.
Trump's campaign is handling just part of the legal costs that Republican donors are shouldering for the real-estate and licensing magnate and his family.
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The Republican National Committee last month reported paying more than $230,000 to the president's lawyers, John Dowd and Jay Sekulow.
In addition, party officials say they spent nearly $200,000 in September on lawyers to help the younger Trump prepare for his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee's investigators. The party is expected to detail those costs in a filing due to federal election regulators later this month.
The financial report Trump's committee filed Sunday with the Federal Election Commission show his longtime campaign firm taking the lion's share of fees: more than $802,000. Another $25,800 went to the president's company, The Trump Corporation, for legal consulting.
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The president often frequents his own properties, eating regularly at the steakhouse inside his Washington hotel and golfing at the private clubs he owns. Sunday's campaign report shows that donors' money is spent at Trump properties, too.
Trump companies took in a total of $121,000 from the Trump campaign in the third quarter, filings show.
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