The Trump campaign shelled out a whopping $9 million in just over a couple of months, including more than $2 million to lawyers and consultants in an unsuccessful attempt to overturn the results of the US Presidential Election. This includes a hefty payment made in November to attorney Jenna Ellis, the most prominent name in Trump's legal and public relations team, according to filings made with the Federal Election Commission.
This once again proves Trump's desperate attempt to overturn the results of the Presidential Election and refrain from conceding to Joe Biden. Most of the amount spent was used in paying expenditures for lawyers Jones Day, Dechert, Kasowitz Benson Torres and Husch Blackwell, among others.
Big Money Spent to Turn Fortunes
According to the filings made with the Federal Election Commission, Trump campaign spent more than $2.3 million to pay lawyers and consultants to fight court cases challenging election results at different states where the President lost. Of this, $30,000 was paid to Ellis as consultation fee to fight some of the court cases.
However, Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney, who is leading the post-election court battles in a bid to overturn the results in Trump's favor, did not feature in the filings. The filings, which cover the period between October 15 and November 23, classified nearly $8.8 million in expenses that were related to court cases demanding a recount of votes.
Giuliani and Ellis have been spearheading a series of legal battles over the past few weeks to promote claims of voter fraud involved in this year's election and to declare Trump as winner after a recount. Of the total amount spent, legal consultation accounted for the second-highest recount expenses.
As much as $3 million was paid for partial recounting of votes in Wisconsin. However, it turned out to be a massive failure with Biden's lead increasing by another 87 votes. Text message advertising was another major area of recount expense, with around $2.2 million spent on text messages bombarding his supporters with requests for money.
A Damp Squib
Despite the hefty sum spent on recount, judges have so far rejected most of the claims made by the Trump campaign. Trump's attorneys have so far failed in convincing judges to accept Trump's repeated and unsubstantiated claims that the election was "rigged."
According to the FEC filings, law firm Kasowitz Benson Torres, which did majority of the work for Trump, was paid $600,000 in November. This was followed by Marks & Sokolov of Philadelphia, which was paid $161,841. The firm is known for its work in Russia and Ukraine. The firm represents Ihor Kolomoisky, a Ukrainian billionaire.
That said, Trump personally earned $1.1 million in revenue from his campaigning and related entities through hotel expenses in the final weeks of the race, according to another filing with the FEC. As Trump maintained a hectic travel schedule in the final weeks, his campaign kicked in cash for use of those facilities, which it is required to do when it uses them. The $1.1 million from his campaign and affiliated donors in the final weeks is part of the larger $6.7 million the Trump campaign and donors paid at his properties in total.
