Donald Trump’s co-defendants have launched crowdfunding appeals (Image: Getty)
Donald Trump’s co-defendants who were indicted over attempts to overturn the 2020 United States election are turning to crowdfunding websites to help foot their legal bills.
According to the New York Post, ex-Trump attorneys John Eastman and Jenna Ellis, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and former Coffee County Republican Party Chair Cathy Latham, have all launched appeals on crowdfunding website GiveSendGo. It comes after they were indicted on August 14 by Fulton County grand jury.
Eastman urged former Vice President Mike Pence to decertify Joe Bidens victory and claimed 72,000 people had unlawfully voted in the Peach State. He has raised over $519,000 – the most of any of the co-defendants.
Ellis, who has now thrown her backing to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for the 2024 Republican nomination, raised over $189,000 by Friday afternoon. While Clark had over $58,000 and Latham $15k.
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John Eastman has raised the most so far (Image: Getty)
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City Mayor has launched his own legal defense fund. In a bid to raise cash for Giuliani, Trump is holding a $100,000-a-ticket event at his New Jersey gold resort in Bedminster next week.
Rep. Chip Roy suggested a fund should also be set up to help pay legal fees for Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff. Meadwos was a former Republican member of Congress for North Carolina.
Trump, 77, has previously said he will cover legal fees for aides, advisers and other employees related to seperate congressional and federal investigations into possible attempts to overturn the 2020 election and his alleged hoarding of national security documents that were uncovered at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
He has not pledged to bail out any of his co-defendants in the Georgia case. He told Newsmax that he does not know “a lot of these people” and “they don’t have a lot of money”.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (Image: Getty)
In July Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump launched the Patriot Legal Defense Fund to cover their dad’s legal fees. Some of the cash could be used to help the 18 other co-defendants, reported CNN, which first claimed the individuals were facing financial issues.
Writing on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Ellis however said she had been “reliably informed Trump isn’t funding any of us who are indicted. She was responding to a post from Conservative Political Action Committee chairman Matt Schlapp, who urged Republican voters to rally around Trump’s nomination and pay his legal costs.
“I don’t think she would be on the top of Trump’s list anyway (to help with legal bills),” a source close to Trump told CNN of Ellis.
Eastman, Ellis, Clark, Latham, Giuliani and Meadows were all indicted last month alongside Trump lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell — both of whom have asked to sever their case from the former president in a speedy trial.
Jenna Ellis now backs Ron DeSantis (Image: Getty)
Trump’s legal team subsequently petitioned the court to separate proceedings, citing time constraints on providing a proper defense case. Chesebro and Powell are expected to stand trial at the end of October.
Trump lawyer Ray Smith, 2020 campaign aide Mike Roman, ex-Kanye West publicist Trevian Kutti, Illinois pastor Stephen Lee, Georgia lawyer Robert Cheeley, bail bondsman Scott Hall, former Georgia GOP chairman David Shafer and Georgia state Sen. Shawn Still were also indicted.
Harrison Floyd, the former Black Voices for Trump executive director spent a few days in Fulton County Jail after being booked on charges. He has since found an attorney and was released on a $100,000 bond, reports suggest.
Former Coffee County GOP Chair Cathy Latham (Image: Getty)
In all, the 19 defendants face a total of 41 counts, including racketeering, conspiracy, false statements and asking a public official to violate their oath of office. Trump was booked on and then released on a $200,000 bond last month after becoming the first President to have a mugshot released.
He later used the image to push his own fundraising campaign, returning to X for the first time since he was banned from the platform days after the Capitol riot.
Trump pleaded not guilty on Thursday to all charges, waiving the right to an in-person arraignment that had been scheduled for September 6. Trump’s Save America political action committee has shelled out more than $21 million in the first six months of 2023, it reported to the Federal Elections Committee.
Trump pleaded not guilty on Thursday to all charges, waiving the right to an in-person arraignment that had been scheduled for Sept. 6,
