The Democratic Nationwide Committee has been paying President Joe Biden’s authorized charges incurred in reference to particular counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into his dealing with of categorised paperwork, in accordance with sources and disclosures of expenditures filed by the occasion committee.
Since final 12 months, the occasion committee has paid the legislation agency of Bob Bauer, the lead legal professional representing Biden in Hur’s investigation greater than $1 million — roughly $150,000 a month — from July 2023 by means of February 2024, the occasion committee’s most up-to-date disclosures present.
Axios was the primary to report on the DNC’s authorized spending on behalf of Biden.
The DNC since final 12 months has additionally paid roughly $905,000 to Hemenway & Barnes LLP, the legislation agency of Jennifer Miller, who is known as as one of many attorneys that had represented Biden within the particular counsel probe, disclosure filings present.
Hemenway & Barnes LLP has lengthy represented the DNC, nicely earlier than Hur’s investigation started, so it is unclear how a lot of the fee, if any, to the agency was for Biden’s authorized charges. Since July final 12 months, the identical time the DNC started paying Bob Bauer PLLC, the occasion has elevated its month-to-month fee to Hemenway & Barnes LLP from roughly $15,000 to $100,000.
All through final 12 months, Bob Bauer PLLC and Hemenway & Barnes LLP had been among the many high legislation companies paid by the DNC, adopted by Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP and Perkins Coie, which have each represented the DNC in different issues for a very long time.
The DNC mentioned that the cash they’ve paid for Biden’s authorized functions isn’t coming from their grassroots donors.
“There is no such thing as a comparability — the DNC doesn’t spend a single penny of grassroots donors’ cash on authorized payments, in contrast to Donald Trump, who actively solicits authorized charges from his supporters and has drawn down each checking account he can get his fingers on like a private piggy financial institution,” DNC spokesperson Alex Floyd mentioned in a press release to ABC Information.
The Democratic Occasion offering monetary help for Biden’s authorized challenges comes amid their intense criticism of the Republican Occasion’s fundraising for and paying of former President Donald Trump’s mounting stack of authorized payments through the years.
Simply final week, the Biden marketing campaign’s finance chair Rufus Gifford mentioned on MSNBC that “each single dime that you simply give to the Biden-Harris reelection marketing campaign, we spend speaking to voters.”
“We’re not spending cash on authorized payments,” Gifford mentioned. “We’re not hawking gold sneakers, or any of that stuff. The cash that we’re elevating, we’re going straight to voters.”
Forward of a big-dollar Biden fundraiser with former Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Invoice Clinton final month, Biden marketing campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz highlighted the help of their grassroots donors and contrasted it with Republicans’ fundraising lulls and have to pay for Trump’s authorized payments.
“While you have a look at the cash that we’re elevating, which is overwhelmingly from grassroots donors… that is cash going to voters, that is cash going to voters within the battleground states. And if you have a look at what Trump is doing, that cash, we do not know the place it is going. It could be going to authorized charges,” Munoz mentioned.
Trump’s marketing campaign accused the Democrats on Friday of being hypocritical of their critique of RNC contributions.
“Joe Biden and the Democrats whole marketing campaign in opposition to President Trump is predicated upon lies and hypocrisy — they’ve repeatedly acknowledged they do not spend cash on Biden’s authorized payments whereas they assault President Trump for having to defend himself from Biden’s witch hunts,” Trump marketing campaign’s nationwide press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned in a press release offered to ABC Information. “Come to seek out out, the DNC paid tens of millions to cowl Biden’s authorized payments.”
Trump has confronted a number of investigations and authorized battles all through his presidency and after he left the White Home, which has value each his political operation and the Republican Occasion tens of tens of millions of {dollars} extra in authorized payments.
Since Trump left the White Home, his numerous fundraising committees and PACs, together with his management PAC Save America, spent almost $100 million in authorized payments, together with greater than $50 million in simply 2023 – with a lot of it going to authorized payments associated to Trump’s numerous courtroom battles as he faces 88 felony costs and a number of civil and felony trials, disclosure experiences present. Trump has denied wrongdoing in all of these instances.
Individually, throughout Trump’s presidency, the RNC has coated tons of of hundreds of {dollars} in authorized payments on behalf of Donald Trump Jr. and different shut allies of the previous president amid investigations into alleged Russian interference within the 2016 presidential election in addition to Trump’s impeachment proceedings; and between 2021 and 2022, the RNC spent almost $2 million in payments for Trump associated to investigations in New York, in accordance with disclosure experiences.
The RNC stopped paying Trump’s authorized payments after he introduced his 2024 candidacy in late 2022 saying the transfer was meant to make sure impartiality because the GOP presidential main performed out – with a lot of the authorized protection shifting over to Save America, disclosure experiences present.
Earlier this 12 months, because the Republican Occasion declared Trump its presumptive nominee and Trump’s crew took over the RNC, the brand new management of the occasion insisted that the occasion committee won’t pay any of his authorized payments.
And whereas the RNC is now not paying Trump’s authorized payments, part of its joint fundraising operation with the Trump marketing campaign is devoted to the Save America PAC, as much as $5,000 of each donation going to Save America first earlier than it goes to the RNC and 40 different state occasion committees that elevate cash with them.
Lara Trump, Trump’s daughter-in-law lately elected co-chair of the RNC, mentioned final month that donors might opt-out of giving to the pot of cash that goes to Trump’s authorized payments in the event that they need to.
“Anybody who doesn’t need to contribute to that very small sum of money is ready to decide out of that … [If you] don’t need that certain quantity to go to Donald Trump’s authorized payments, then you’re very — you possibly can very simply decide out of that,” she mentioned, referring to how donors might additionally select to donate on to the RNC or to a special fundraising car that does not embrace Save America.