More than two dozen current and former Trump aides have been questioned by Robert Mueller's prosecutors in the course of the Russia probe, but it's unclear how many of them have tapped into the legal defense fund or gotten help directly from the Trump campaign. | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Legal Mar-a-Lago member gives $150,000 to help Trump aides mired in Mueller probe

A Donald Trump campaign donor and Mar-a-Lago member gave $150,000 to a legal defense fund set up for current and former Trump aides mired in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, according to a new filing with the IRS.

Anthony Lomangino, a recycling mogul and major GOP campaign contributor, gave two donations, in July and September, to the Patriot Legal Expense Trust Fund, according to the trust's latest filing.


Lomangino, the founder of a South Florida waste hauling company acquired by Waste Management in 2015, has also been a big recent donor to other GOP causes, including $17,300 in August to the National Republican Congressional Committee and $25,000 to Great America PAC, which backed Trump’s 2016 campaign and is now supporting the president’s agenda.

The latest IRS filing for the fund — set up in February to help current and former Trump aides and associates who need help hiring lawyers for the Mueller probe — shows a $114,000 payment for legal consulting to Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

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It’s unclear who Akin Gump is representing in the Russia probe, and a firm spokesperson declined comment.

Other spending listed by the trust fund includes $8,400 to Schertler & Onorato, a Washington-based boutique firm that has represented Keith Schiller, the longtime Trump bodyguard and White House security official who met with Mueller’s investigators last November. NBC News reported in April that the Trump campaign paid more than $66,000 to the firm representing Schiller.

The legal defense fund in its earlier IRS reports has listed contributions from billionaire casino mogul Phillip Ruffin, Continental Resources CEO Harold Hamm, Los Angeles developer Geoffrey Palmer and the Virginia-based consulting firm ProActive Communications.

More than two dozen current and former Trump aides have been questioned by Mueller's prosecutors in the course of the Russia probe, but it's unclear how many of them have tapped into the legal defense fund or gotten help directly from the Trump campaign.

A draft agreement released earlier this year by the Office of Government Ethics said the fund wouldn't be used by Trump himself or his immediate family members. It also said no one could draw from the fund if they've been charged or indicted "for dishonest, fraudulent or criminal activity" unless the managers of the fund determined the basis of the allegations were done in support of Trump's campaign, transition or administration "in good faith and without the knowledge that such acts were prohibited by law."

The fund also doesn't accept donations from lobbyists, and anyone giving at least $200 during a calendar year must disclose the donations.

Legal defense funds are common for people pulled into major investigations. Aides to former President Bill Clinton used one during congressional and special counsel probes during the Democratic administration. Former Trump aides Michael Flynn, Rick Gates, Roger Stone and Michael Caputo have their own funds established to cover their legal bills.



CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misidentified the former law firm of Alex van der Zwaan. He worked at Skadden Arps.