(Presidentialwire.com)- Former President Donald Trump’s Save America PAC may have been stingy when it came to spending money on his endorsed midterm candidates, but not when it comes to paying the legal bills for Trump aides and allies subpoenaed as part of investigations involving the former president.
According to a report in the Washington Post, FEC filings reveal that the Save America PAC paid more than $120,000 to the law firm Brand Woodward which represents several Trump associates who have either appeared before the Washington grand jury investigating January 6 or spoken with investigators looking into the handling of government documents seized from Mar-a-Lago in August.
Save America has helped pay the legal bills of former Trump advisor Kash Patel and former White House military aide Walt Nauta, both of whom are represented by Brand Woodward.
Other Trump allies represented by Brand Woodward include Will Russia and Beau Harrison. Some of their legal fees were also paid by the Save America PAC.
Stan M. Brand, a founding partner in the firm, told the Washington Post that there is nothing inappropriate about a third party paying the legal bills for witnesses “as long as it’s disclosed to the client.” Brand called the Post’s reporting “a tempest in a teapot and another cheap shot at these people because of who they work for.”
However, former Trump White House attorney Ty Cobb believes the arrangement could raise bias issues down the road for the Trump allies whose legal fees were covered by Trump’s PAC.
Cobb told CNN that while it is “common practice in corporate America” for companies to pay the outside legal fees of employees called to testify in company-related cases, “it’s a very common practice fraught with danger.”
Former federal prosecutor Jim Walden told the Washington Post that it could raise concerns about whether Trump’s PAC footing the bill for their legal fees could influence their testimony.
Walden said it could give the appearance that Trump’s PAC is either paying the witnesses to keep silent and plead the Fifth or to offer “favorable testimony.” Either way, Walden explained, it would look “very suspicious to the Justice Department.”
