Trump Planning Lavish Dinner To Raise Funds For Co-Defendants

Former President Donald Trump has put the wheels in motion to host a lavish dinner that is expected to raise $1 million to help alleviate the legal fees pressing down on his 18 co-defendants in the Georgia case alleging election interference. The candlelit dinner, the details of which are still being ironed out, will be a major boost to individuals who do not have the financial largesse of the former president and in some cases have been left in deplorable jail conditions because they could not afford bail.

The Messenger reports that the effort is being spearheaded by Eric Trump and Donald Trump, Jr. who see the event as a surefire way to keep the defendants covered in four separate legal entanglements across Florida, Georgia, New York, and Washington, D.C. Most of Trump’s co-defendants are facing charges in Georgia where Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is pursuing timelines for speedy prosecutions that one judge has called “unrealistic.”

The effort does not necessarily mean that co-defendants will support President Trump’s reelection campaign either: at least one, Jenna Ellis, has publicly backed his rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

From The Messenger:

The exact date and details of the event – which could raise between $500,000 to $1 million – are still being ironed out for the Patriot Legal Defense Fund, according to two sources familiar with the planning who did not have authorization to speak on the record.

The fund is designed to primarily help Trump’s codefendants and witnesses in the cases against him, and it’s supposed to operate in tandem with Trump’s Save America PAC, which will primarily handle his legal bills, the sources said.

Until this summer, Save America had covered nearly all the legal expenses of Trump and his various employees, former employees, advisers and allies who had been swept up in the sprawling web of investigations. The committee spent at least $22 million on legal expenses in the first six months of the year, according to the most recent filings with the Federal Elections Commission.

President Trump has been forced to raise and spend massive amounts of his fundraising efforts on legal defense as well, but unlike his co-defendants has the opportunity to raise millions of dollars overnight every time another case against him is unveiled. His mugshot from Fulton County has become a rallying cry for supporters who feel the cases against him and his co-defendants are politically motivated by Democratic prosecutors and Biden Justice Department appointees.