RICO Trials Are Expensive Yet Trump is Refusing To Pay Co-Defendants Legal Bills

As Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is reportedly trying to get other defendants to flip, Donald Trump is leaving many of his top 2020 election theft defenders vulnerable.

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RICO trials are expensive to litigate and yet former president Donald Trump is refusing to fund the legal fees of Jenna Ellis and other Georgia co-defendants. This decision could be “consequential,” as some may “feel compelled to cooperate or plea,” Georgia legal expert Anna Bower wrote.

“Trump’s apparent decision not to fund the legal fees of any Fulton County co-defendants may be consequential. RICO trials are extraordinarily expensive to litigate. Some of the defendants have deep pockets & can afford it. Those who can’t may feel compelled to cooperate or plea,” the Courts Correspondent for Lawfare wrote above Jenna Ellis’ announcement that she had been “reliably informed” that Donald Trump would not fund her legal feels.

“I was reliably informed Trump isn’t funding any of us who are indicted. Would this change if he becomes the nominee? Why then, not now? I totally agree this has become a bigger principle than just one man. So why isn’t MAGA, Inc. funding everyone’s defense?” Ellis asked, seeming to push for Trump’s financial support amidst her crowd-funding efforts.

Her public request for help can also be read as a potential flipped witness pressuring the head fish for cash.

Ellis is a former attorney for Donald Trump, who has now been reduced to crowdfunding her defense fees after being indicted along with the former president and 17 others in Georgia, even as Trump wields his tremendous power over the base and donors by pushing for their to help with his legal fees.

While crowdfunding might work for higher-profile people like Ellis, Bower pointed out that “it’s been less successful for little known defendants.” She named, “Cathy Latham, a retired teacher indicted for her role as fake elector & Coffee County breach, has only raised $3,545 out of $500,000 goal.”

Ellis has supported Trump’s top primary opponent, Ron DeSantis, in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries, but Trump is also not funding Rudy Giuliani’s bills, which is both peak Trump cheapness and pettiness but is also a departure from his method of maintaining control over potential witnesses by paying for their legal defense.

The Georgia Republican Party has paid more than half a million dollars in legal expenses in the first half of 2023. More than $340,000 of that went to defend Trump’s fake electors and about $220,000 went to law firms that represented many of the GOP electors in 2022, according to the Atlantic Journal-Constitution.

Donald Trump has become a very costly investment for the Republican Party and many of his devoted followers, many of whom continue to fund his alleged crime sprees — all the while leaving the national Republican Party stuck with a four-times indicted criminal defendant as their front-runner for the Republican Presidential nomination.

Trump’s decision not to fund the legal fees of people who can’t afford their own defense as the DA is looking to flip defendants raises even more questions about his motives and methods.

Sarah Jones

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