Former president Donald Trump has to come up with $440 million to pay off the judgments against him, and he can’t use any of his political funding sources to do it.
Can Trump Use Campaign Funds To Pay The Judgments Against Him?
No. Trump can’t use campaign funds or his campaign fundraising apparatus to raise money to pay the judgments.
Using his political vehicles to pay would be far trickier. There is a general ban on using campaign donations for personal uses unrelated to a campaign or the official duties of an officeholder. And as for his political action committees, Richard Pildes, a professor of constitutional law at New York University law school, said they can’t pay Trump’s judgments.
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“Campaign funds cannot be used for that purpose regardless of whether the PAC is the decision-maker,” he wrote in an email.
Even if the PACs could pay for it, they don’t have the money. Trump is using his super PACs to cover his legal bills, and they are virtually drained of cash.
Can Trump Use The RNC To Pay The Judgments?
The RNC is a non-profit and might lose its non-profit status if it tried to pay off the $440 million that Trump owes. A more significant issue for the RNC is that it is already virtually broke. Things are so bad at the RNC that they were discussing borrowing money to keep the organization afloat because it has seen a drop in donations with Trump at the helm and has also been paying Trump’s legal bills.
Even with Trump’s daughter-in-law soon to become co-chair and the former president handpicking the next chair, the RNC ddoesn’thave the money, and trying to pay off TTrump’sdebts, even if it wouldn’t violate their non-profit status, might put the Republican Party organization out of business.
How Can Trump Pay These Judgments?
There has been a lot of talk about the Truth Social merger that could net Trump billions of dollars because it cleared an SEC hurdle, but that merger is mired in investigations and lawsuits. It is unclear if it will ever happen and will certainly not occur fast enough to get Trump out of his current situation.
Since Trump has placed ownership of his assets in the Trump Organization, he will probably have to sell assets to pay what he owes. Trump can’t appeal these judgments without putting up a bond for the entire amount, so he is going to have to come with $440 million no matter what.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
