GETTR was supposed to be a Trump world alternative to Twitter. But it’s being inundated with extremist content, including beheading videos and terrorist propaganda.
“I am pleased to see the entire party benefit from ‘Trump,’” Trump said.
While Trump declined to transfer money to other Republicans or GOP committees, he did spend large sums on lawyers. Make America Great Again PAC, which was Trump’s campaign committee during the election and became a political action committee in 2021, spent more than $1 million on legal fees for mega firms Jones Day and Harder LLP, the law firm of Charles Harder. Harder had previously represented Trump in lawsuits brought by porn star Stormy Daniels as well as the Trump campaign in defamation lawsuits against media companies.
Trump’s Make America Great Again PAC also footed the bill for legal consulting fees during Trump’s second impeachment trial. The law firms of Trump’s three impeachment attorneys, Bruce Castor, Michael van der Veen, and David Schoen, were collectively paid more than $600,000.
In addition, more than $2.5 million was paid to Kasowitz, Benson, Torres, LLP, the firm of Trump’s attorney Marc Kasowitz, a prominent New York litigator who has represented Trump in high-profile lawsuits and was Trump’s private counsel during the Russia investigation.
After the November 2020 election, Trump’s attention almost entirely turned towards subverting the election results and various recount efforts. Yet of the nearly $2 million spent on recount-related legal consulting in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia — where the Trump campaign filed lawsuits to contest the general election outcome — only a small fraction was paid to the people who became the face of Trump’s crusade.
Jenna Ellis, who appeared almost daily on television and at local hearings to defend Trump’s election disputes, was paid $22,000 by Trump’s MAGA PAC according to filings. When asked for comment, she said this publication had “no clue what my representation agreement was nor do you care.” She did not elaborate, but Trump has been known to pay associates and aides through limited liability corporations, which make it effectively impossible to track how much they are earning.
Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani, who led efforts to overturn the election and pushed baseless theories of widespread voter fraud, was only paid over $75,000. That payment was for travel expenses and not legal fees. A spokesperson for Giuliani did not reply to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Trump said Giuliani has only been paid expenses, not legal fees.
In a sign of Giuliani’s frustration over the lack of remuneration, the former president’s personal attorney and longtime ally “liked” a tweet on Monday about him not being paid legal fees that read, “just another example of loyalists left to the slaughter.”
