When Donald Trump received a judgement of $464 million in his New York civil fraud trial, the former president's lawyers said the hefty price would be "impossible" to pay.
A panel of New York appellate judge's last week cut the judgement down to $175 million for Trump, which he received as a loan from billionaire Don Hankey.
While the ex-president struggles to pay his legal fees, the Republican National Committee (RNC) — which now led by Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump — is convinced that the MAGA hopeful's supporters won't have any problem with their donations being used to cover the fees.
READ MORE: 'We don’t treat donors well': GOP fundraisers warn 'threatening' emails are fueling money woes
However, according to a Wednesday, April 3 Axios article,the news outlet reports GOP Senate candidates are flocking to the former president's Mar-a-Lago estate to "raise funds for their campaigns, and the results have been lucrative."
Furthermore, despite the fact Trump's 2024 "campaign faces a fundraising deficit against President Biden," Axios reports his "influence and estate have continued to be a cash cow for GOP candidates close to the former president."
The Washington Post reported in February that the RNC "has already starting to fret about its finances given that it's trailing the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in fundraising by an almost three-to-one margin. The DNC has roughly $25 million in cash on hand, compared to the RNC's $8.7 million. And between President Joe Biden's campaign and the Trump campaign, the difference looms even larger: Biden had more than $56 million in cash available by the end of January 2024, whereas Trump had less than $31 million. At the end of 2023, Biden also led in unique donors, with 172,000 to Trump's 143,000 unique donors."
Still, Axios reports Kari Lake, the failed Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate — now Senate candidate — "raised $1 million at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser on Wednesday, a source familiar with the event told Axios."
READ MORE: 'They are going to empty the coffers': GOP panics as Trump’s legal costs hurt fundraising
Ohio's Republican primary candidate Bernie Morena, according to the report, "raised around $350,000 during a fundraiser at Trump's residence this year."
__Axios' full report is available here.__
