New York Times correspondent and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman shared an update on former President Donald Trump’s legal situation. It turns out that his donors cannot pay the $83 million judgment that he owes to E. Jean Carroll.
According to Haberman and Shane Goldmacher’s report on Tuesday, Trump’s legal cases were funded by his donors through PAC donations, amounting to about $50 million in 2023.
On Tuesday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, anchor Kaitlan Collins asked Haberman if that same method could be used to pay Carroll’s judgment or the coming fraud trial penalty. Alas, Haberman says, the money “will have to be from him”:
“COLLINS: Is he paying? Do we — we were talking about this last night, with E. Jean Carroll, and whether or not that could come out of the Super PAC? Do we know what he is personally paying for, at this point, if anything?
HABERMAN: So, a couple of things. It can’t come out of the Super PAC. Legally, he can’t — that would be coordination that the Political Action Committee, which is what Save America is.
As I expect it will show in the report, we don’t know for sure, but just based on the math that I know is there, unless they had a flood of donations, it would only cover a fraction. And campaign finance experts are split on whether he could use that anyway.
So yes, it will have to be from him. And he and his company are fairly indistinguishable. He did have to put up money, in the first E. Jean Carroll trial. It was $5 million. This is a lot more than $5 million.
COLLINS: And we could be getting the civil suit, for the —
HABERMAN: Yes.
COLLINS: — inflating his businesses, soon.
When I was looking at Alina Habba, when she came out after he — after that $83.3 million verdict on Friday, I think, one question is, is he happy with his legal team, at this point? I mean, I know that’s a broad term, because there’s so many of them. But, I mean, what have you heard about that?
HABERMAN: So, I think a couple of things.
He’s almost never happy with his legal team, at various points, and you know, this as well as anybody, especially when people just leave court. There are a couple of members, of his legal team, like Todd Blanche, who have not yet been tested in court, and it will be interesting to see how he does.
If the Alvin Bragg, Manhattan District Attorney, hush money case goes forward, in March, as we expect, and he’s on that case, I don’t — I don’t know how winnable this case was, for anybody, Alina Habba or not.
But Trump has certain things that he wants from his lawyers. And I think you see that.”
