Florida Eyes $5 Million Fund to Help Cover Trump’s Legal Bills

florida eyes $5 million fund to help cover trump’s legal bills

Donald Trump appears in the courtroom for his civil fraud trial at New York State Supreme Court.

(Bloomberg) — A Florida bill backed by the state’s chief financial officer would create a $5 million fund to help pay for former President Donald Trump’s mounting legal fees.

State Senator Ileana Garcia, a Republican, has filed a proposal to create the “Freedom Fighters Fund,” which would provide financial support for Florida residents running for president who face legal action. Trump, who is seeking a second term, lives in the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

The proposal, which still must clear multiple committees, underscores the broader fealty of Republicans to Trump as leader of the party. It comes a day after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ended his struggling White House campaign and endorsed the former president.

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“If we can help and support a Florida candidate for the White House, that’s just good from a dollars and cents perspective,” said Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis in an emailed statement supporting the bill.

Patronis, a former lawmaker who has served as Florida’s CFO since 2017, has led some of the state’s biggest attacks on finance, including cutting BlackRock Inc. out of some state funds because of its support for investments that consider a company’s environmental, social and corporate governance policies. He endorsed Trump less than an hour after DeSantis dropped out.

Trump faces an unprecedented legal onslaught, with 91 felony charges in four separate cases. They range from conspiring to defraud the US in his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to falsifying business records to cover up hush money paid to an adult film actress.

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The proposed $5 million for the new fund would come from the state’s public campaign-matching funds program, which would later be replenished from voluntary donations via driver’s license registrations, according to Patronis.

–With assistance from Anna Kaiser.

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