As special counsel Robert Mueller has investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin, the inquiry has sucked in dozens of witnesses and targets ranging from obscure conspiracy theorists to top White House aides, members of the Trump family and key campaign figures.

But as a political battle royale rages over the implications of the Mueller inquiry as it has moved closer to Trump, his inner circle and family, there is one group of people who have emerged as clear winners: the lawyers raking in millions of dollars in fees. And one group of potential losers: the GOP donors and others paying for them.

Welcome to the wild sprawling legal battlefield spawned by the 18-month Mueller investigation, and related congressional inquiries, and the huge costs associated with getting caught up in them. A few highlights so far:

Donald Trump’s campaign paid just over $275,000 in legal bills for Michael Cohen, Trump’s newly sentenced longtime fixer and lawyer, before he pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations involving hush monies for women who alleged affairs with the billionaire.

Meanwhile, a Washington DC law firm received almost $550,000 from the Republican National Committee to pay legal bills for Trump’s ex-communications director Hope Hicks, who was interviewed by Mueller’s office.

And the grandson of Trump’s confidant Roger Stone, who is in Mueller’s sights as a possible conduit to WikiLeaks, which released thousands of stolen Democratic emails, has a GoFundMe page to assist in paying legal bills for his “dirty trickster” relative.

To foot the bills, Republican political committees and legal defense funds have written six-figure checks and Trump has shelled out huge sums for his own defense. Others have resorted to internet appeals to raise cash for themselves or their friends and relatives.

Cohen and Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who had a plea deal with Mueller but allegedly reneged on it by lying to prosecutors, have used multiple attorneys in lengthy negotiations with prosecutors which analysts predict mean seven-figure bills.

Nick Akerman, a former assistant Watergate prosecutor who is a partner at Dorsey & Whitney, said: “I would totally expect that’s what their legal bills would be [in the seven-figure range], given the complexity of the cases and the amount of time needed” for representation.

A law firm received almost $550,000 from the Republican National Committee to pay legal bills for Hope Hicks. Photograph: Andrew Harrer / Pool/EPA

The Washington lawyer Robert Bennett, who represented Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, said some of the more eye-popping legal bills must rankle donors. “Donors are sensitive to payments of this kind and magnitude. I’m sure it doesn’t sit well.”

A prominent Republican operative and fundraiser with White House ties concurs with Bennett. “Donors hate checks going for legal bills. I’d be surprised if there isn’t some blowback.”

The Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign have picked up a number of six-figure legal tabs related to Mueller’s inquiry and congressional inquiries into Russian meddling.

Some lawyers, such as Alan Futerfas, who represents Donald Trump Jr, have received fees from both the Trump campaign and the RNC, according to data from the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics. The two committees combined have paid Futerfas almost $454,000 to assist Trump Jr, whom Mueller has been investigating given his key role in arranging a meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016 with a Russian lawyer who promised “dirt” on Trump’s opponent Hillary Clinton.

Trump has been paying most of his own legal fees, his former attorney John Dowd told the Guardian. The RNC in August 2017 paid Dowd $100,000 and about $131,000 to the attorney Jay Sekulow, but subsequently the president himself paid both men. Dowd, who left the Trump legal team this year, declined to say how much Trump paid him. Rudy Giuliani, who joined Trump’s legal squad in 2018, has said he’s working pro bono.

Some lawyers have been lucky enough to land multiple clients who have been interviewed by Mueller. William Burck, of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, has snared three big-name clients: the former White House counsel Don McGahn, the ex-Trump strategist Steve Bannon, and Trump’s former chief of staff Reince Priebus.

Meanwhile, key figures such as Manafort, Cohen and Stone have scrambled to raise funds from friends and the public to pay their hefty legal bills.

One of Cohen’s lawyers, Lanny Davis, helped set up the “Michael Cohen Truth Fund” last August to pay legal bills. In its first day, when Cohen flipped and pleaded guilty to paying hush monies to two women who alleged affairs with Trump to avoid embarrassment right before the election, the fund raised over $130,000 from some 2,000 donors. The fund, which had an initial goal of $500,000, by 6 December had roped in almost $179,000.

Old friends of Manafort, who was convicted on eight counts including bank and tax fraud and pleaded guilty to two other conspiracy charges, set up the Paul Manafort Defense Fund to corral small and big donations earlier this year but it’s unclear how much it has raised. The website touts Manafort’s “Life Time of Service” and says that the more resources he and his lawyers have, “the better chance of bringing out the truth”. A spokesman for Manafort declined to provide any details on how much the fund has raised.

Stone has used a few lawyers in recent months who apparently have dealt mainly with congressional investigators seeking documents or his testimony.

Paul Manafort’s friends set up the Paul Manafort Defense Fund. Photograph: James Lawler Duggan/Reuters

In a 6 December email appeal for funds for the Roger Stone Legal Defense Fund, Stone estimated his legal expenses could run as high as $2m. In a marketing twist, Stone touted a recent tweet from Trump thanking him for his “guts” for stating that he would never testify against the president. Stone’s eponymous fund also boasts a GoFundMe Page to bring in more money.

Some close Stone allies facing Mueller’s scrutiny have also made pleas for financial help and are pushing legal challenges against the special counsel – which do not come cheap.

Jerome Corsi, a Stone associate and fellow conspiracy theorist who told the Guardian he had spent about 40 hours talking to Mueller’s team and expected to be charged, estimates he’s already racked up a “couple hundred thousand dollars” in legal fees to his attorney David Gray. If he’s indicted and tried, Corsi said he might wind up with about $2m in legal bills. Those big bills are part of the reason he recently established his own website, Corsi Nation, which he has employed to raise funds.

Corsi has also been beefing up his legal team to go on the offense. Last month, Corsi recruited the veteran legal firebrand Larry Klayman, the founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, to launch a legal attack on Mueller that accuses the prosecutor of criminal wrongdoing.

Similarly, Stone’s associate Andrew Miller, who has defied a grand jury subpoena, is getting outside legal help from the conservative National Legal and Policy Center and the attorney Paul Kamenar, who has filed a lawsuit with the US court of appeals in Washington arguing that Mueller’s appointment required congressional approval.

Kamenar told the Guardian that he expected to take the case to the supreme court. Peter Flaherty, who runs the center, said it had mailed about 2,000 of its supporters to help pay for the court challenges.

Another Stone associate, Michael Caputo, who has been interviewed by Mueller’s team, has helped raise funds to pay some legal expenses for Miller, say sources. Caputo, who compared his interview with Mueller prosecutors to a rectal exam by a “doctor with very large hands”, recently launched another GoFundMe venture to help Stone with a special “Guts Fund”, in a nod to Trump’s praise for his old friend.

Veteran attorneys and former justice department prosecutors say that the legal challenge to Mueller’s appointment is weak.

Bennett, now a senior counsel at Schertler & Onorato, agrees that both challenges seem without merit. Still, he adds that the legal fray sparked by the Mueller investigation has been a boon for many lawyers.

“These are field days for white-collar criminal lawyers.”