Former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have raised more than $175 million from fundraising in November and December based on his voter fraud claims.
In his effort to overturn the election results, the former president spent only a fraction on lawyers. The Republican National Committee pocketed millions of dollars in donations, collecting 25 cents for every dollar Trump raised online.
His campaign’s single biggest expense in December was a $5 million media buy paid to the firm that bought his television advertisements. His second-largest payment, $4.4 million, was for online advertising.
Only $10 million was spent on legal costs, about one-fifth of what it spent on advertising and fundraising, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission filings from November 4 through the end of the year.
Since Joe Biden was elected president on November 3 and the Electoral College confirmed Biden’s win on December 14, Trump has made efforts to delegitimize the election, with his supporters providing the former president and his party with millions in donations.
The Republican National Committee ended the year with more than $80 million. Trump had $31 million in his new political action committee he formed in November for his post-presidential political ventures.
Most of the money appears to have come online and from smaller contributors, with relatively few five- and six-figure checks. One $100,000 check came from Elaine J. Wold, a major Republican donor in Florida, in early December.
One major Republican donor, C. Boyden Gray, contributed more than $2 million to Republicans in the 2020 cycle and is also providing legal consulting for Trump, earning $114,000.
Additionally, the Trump Victory Committee paid $34,000 to the Trump Hotel Collection in its final 2020 filing, the same company paying a Trump-owned limited liability company that operates a private plane, DT Endeavor, $39,200 on November 24.
