The money comes from the RNC’s legal proceedings account, which has several million dollars in it. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images RNC says it has spent over $400,000 on Trump family's legal bills

The Republican National Committee has spent nearly a quarter-million dollars on President Donald Trump’s legal bills, an RNC official confirmed on Tuesday.

Reuters reported that Trump was using funds from the RNC and his re-election campaign to pay for lawyers amid FBI and congressional probes into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, including possible collusion between Trump associates and Moscow.


The RNC, which is expected to release its August spending totals on Wednesday, has totaled expenditures of more than $230,000 on the president’s Russia-related legal fees: $131,250 to Jay Sekulow and $100,000 to John Dowd, both of whom are part of Trump's personal legal team.

The RNC also spent nearly $200,000 to cover Donald Trump Jr.'s legal fees, according to a committee official. More than $166,000 was paid to attorney Alan Futerfas, while another $30,000 was paid to the Williams & Jensen firm. Both helped the younger Trump prepare for testimony.

The money spent on Trump Jr. will be reflected on the committee's September federal filing.

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The money comes from the RNC’s legal proceedings account, which has several million dollars in it. Funds from the legal proceedings account “do not reduce by a dime the resources we can put towards our political work,” RNC spokesperson Cassie Smedile said.

Trump's campaign previously reported that it spent more than half a million dollars in campaign funds from April to June on legal fees, including $50,000 to Futerfas. Trump can legally use campaign funds to pay for expenses related to the investigation into his campaign.

