Trump PACs paid lawyers nearly $8 million as he fought election results and impeachment

Jenna Ellis, one of Trump’s legal advisors during the recount, was paid more than $22,000 for her services.

In an email to CNBC, Ellis defended the former president and the payments she received.

“I was paid in full according to the terms of my representation. President Trump always treated me with fairness and respect for my work and advocacy for him. He is the best boss I have ever had,” Ellis said Monday.

Elections LLC, which the Center for Responsive Politics says was launched by former Trump deputy White House counsel Stefan Passantino, received over $200,000 this year between multiple Trump PACs, according to the new records. The FEC filings do not say whether the payments were related to the election. Passantino did not respond to requests for comment.

A website that tracks the lawyers who worked on efforts to overturn the election for Trump shows that many of those attorneys were paid six figures for legal fights they ended up losing. In February, the Make America Great Again PAC paid the Hilbert Law Firm just under $380,000 for legal help with the recount.

That firm led failed legal fights in Georgia. According to The Wall Street Journal, Kurt Hilbert, a founder of the firm, was on an infamous January phone call between Trump and the Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Trump urged Raffensperger to overturn then-President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state.

“I would like to suggest that just four categories that have already been mentioned by the president that have actually hard numbers of 24,149 votes that were counted illegally. That in and of itself is sufficient to change the results or place the outcome in doubt, Hilbert said on the call, according to the Journal’s transcript.

Hilbert declined to comment on the payments made by the PAC to his firm. But he again pushed the idea that there were election irregularities in Georgia.

“This evidence cannot be ignored,” Hilbert told CNBC in an email.

Courts, state election authorities and the U.S. Justice Department have all said there is no evidence that the election was rigged against Trump.

True North Law, which led a failed fight in swing state Michigan, was paid over $270,000 for its services in January by the same committee. Harvey Binnall, which was involved in a failed legal fight in Nevada, received over $300,000 in payments from January through June by the Trump PAC, according to the filings.

True North Law did not respond to requests for comment.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/02/trump-pacs-paid-lawyers-nearly-8-million-as-they-fought-election-results-impeachment.html