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Donald Trump 'strong-armed' the RNC into paying his legal fees

Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons

Former President Donald Trump is facing several lawsuits and investigations, a few of which were related to the 2020 elections and his efforts to overturn the election results. Attorney Tristan Snell explained how Trump’s financial situation led the former president to get the Republican National Committee into paying his legal defense fees.

Snell, who prosecuted Trump University while working for the New York Attorney General’s office, referred to a piece by Forbes revealing that the former president only had $93 million in cash during the last year of his presidency, smaller than the amount he claimed in previous years. Snell explained that Trump’s properties are all “indebted.”

“The Trumps could potentially owe $100 to $300 million or more in back taxes, restitution, and penalties – and that’s just the NY AG civil case alone,” Snell wrote on Twitter, referring to the investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James on the Trump Organization. Snell added that the former president will then have $738 million in debt in the next few years and that the Trump Organization is under indictment by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.

“Trump’s cash crunch helps explain why he needed to strong-arm the Republican National Committee into paying his legal fees for his criminal defense, $1.6 million and counting,” Snell added.

ABC News reported earlier this month that in October and November 2021, the RNC spent almost $720,000 of donor money to paying law firms representing the former president in various legal cases, including the investigations in New York.

With Trump losing his bid to block the National Archives from turning over records related to January 6 to the congressional committee, the investigators revealed that they found proof that Trump was attempting to plot a coup, and the Justice Department likely also has evidence.

Speaking on CNN, Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin explained that the committee found evidence revealing how wide-ranging the former president’s plot to overturn the 2020 elections and stay in power even after losing to Joe Biden.

“We have filled in a lot more evidence that he wasn’t just inciting an insurrection, he was working to organize a coup against democracy,” said Raskin. “I can’t imagine that the Department of Justice would not have evidence at this point to that effect.”

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