Some Big Names in Republican Fundraising Are Financing Trump's Legal Defense Fund
Some of the richest individuals in the energy, real estate, and casino industries are financing a controversial legal defense fund to help President Donald Trump foot legal bills associated with the federal investigation into Russian election meddling.
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The structure of the PAC also raised red flags for some ethicists when the legal expense fund was formed in February. The political action committee structure “represents a radical and dangerous departure from established practice for government-employee legal defense funds,” wrote Walter Shaub, the former director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), in a column for the Los Angeles Times. “This is unprecedented in my experience—legal defense funds are not also campaign fundraising tools.”