Most of the legal payments go to lawyers representing him in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. The cost of $3,886,999 in legal advice includes a $3 million check written to the law firm Critton, Luttier & Coleman, LLP on August 30. The company is headquartered outside of Palm Beach, Florida, less than three miles from Mar-a-Trump’s Lago Club. Former Florida attorney general Chris Kise is not currently listed as one of the firm’s attorneys, but Kise was reportedly paid $3 million up front to represent Trump, according to Politico. Kise was previously a partner at Foley & Lardner, but his ties to the firm were cut after Trump hired him. Kise filed for statehood in Florida on August 24th and made his first appearance for Trump on September 1st. Neither the company nor Kise responded to CBS News requests for comment about the payment. A spokesman for Trump also did not respond to a request for comment. Save America also paid $207,827 to Habba Madaio & Associates, LLP, the firm of Trump lawyer Alina Habba. Ifrah Law PLLC, the firm of Trump lawyer James Trusty, received $242,770. Trump’s lawyer, Evan Corcoran, Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin & White, LLC, received $68,413. Christina Bobb, another member of Trump’s legal team, received $12,051 in payroll payments from the PAC. Save America PAC also made payments to several lawyers in other legal cases involving Trump, including the Fulton County District Attorney’s investigation into whether Trump and allies illegally tried to sway the 2020 presidential election. The law office of Atlanta-based criminal defense attorney Drew Findling received $91,209 from the PAC. Fiedling, a former Trump critic, is representing Trump in the Fulton County case. Timothy Parlatore’s company received $29,870.54 from the PAC in August. Parlatore is an attorney who represented Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano during his brief appearance before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol. While another committee, the Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, is the primary fundraiser for the former president, the Save America PAC still holds the majority of Trump’s cash. The PAC reported $92.7 million in cash on hand at the end of August and more than $6 million was spent. The joint fundraising committee will report what it raised from June to August in its mid-October report. Trump’s PAC, which has billed itself as a “leadership PAC” to support other candidates, donated $150,000 to Wyoming Values ​​PAC in August, a group opposing Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who lost the her re-election race against a Trump-endorsed candidate, Harriet Hagman. Throughout the year, the PAC has made more than $7.2 million in contributions to other federal or state campaigns. By comparison, the PAC has also spent $7,555,168.09 in event fees for Trump’s numerous candidate rallies.

If Trump is running for president

Trump’s large war chest has raised questions about what will happen to him if he announces he will run for president in 2024. Erin Klopak, senior director of campaign finance at the Campaign Legal Center, said that if Trump decides to is a candidate, you should create a candidate committee. Money from his leadership PAC cannot go directly to that candidate committee, which will have tighter restrictions on how much it can raise compared to a leadership PAC. Save America will remain the lead PAC. In practice, Trump’s leadership PAC money could not be used for campaigning if he announces a presidential bid. At this point, he’s been able to use Save America PAC funds for rallies he’s holding for other candidates, and since he’s not currently running, FEC rules allow it. Trump can also likely argue that existing PAC funds at his disposal can still be used for his legal expenses even if he becomes the nominee. Chlopak said that while leadership PACs should not be used for “personal expenses,” such as personal legal bills, the FEC has not subjected leadership PACs to those rules. “We routinely see leadership PACs being used essentially as slush funds for office holders’ personal piggy banks. And that was a real concern, obviously, with a Trump leadership PAC that has successfully raised so much money. For the money to be used in his real estate or to pay family members or other expenses, which would not be allowed if it were an official campaign fund,” Chlopak said. But Chlopak said that if Trump declares a 2024 candidacy and has to create another candidate committee, the FEC will be stricter about using campaign funds for more personal legal fees. He said they would look at it on a case-by-case basis as to whether it counts as “personal.” Whether he can use the nominating committee’s funds to pay for expenses such as legal fees related to the search for Mar-a-Lago documents is up to the FEC’s discretion, Chlopak said. “The legal standard is whether there would be a personal expense regardless of the applicant — such as a divorce proceeding or a traffic ticket. The answer to whether this applies to [Mar-a-Lago case] it is a close communication as it is intertwined with his capacity as president,” he said. “It’s a remarkable amount of money that’s been raised so far, so I think we’re all set to see what’s going to happen,” he added. Melissa Quinn contributed to this report.

2022 Midterm Elections

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Aaron Navarro is an associate producer for the politics unit at CBS News, focusing on the House and gubernatorial campaigns as well as the census and redistricting.