Trump, DeSantis aides spar over former president’s spending on legal fees

Aides to GOP rivals Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) are trading barbs over news that the former president has spent more than $40 million so far in 2023 on legal fees as part of ongoing investigations into his conduct.

Multiple reports indicated the Trump-aligned PAC Save America was set to disclose the legal expenditures in a filing Monday. The expenses for legal costs for Trump and others in his orbit are the former president’s highest cost by far as he faces charges in Florida and New York and ongoing investigations in Washington, D.C., and Georgia.

Andrew Romeo, a DeSantis campaign spokesperson, seized on the figure and argued it was evidence of the Trump team’s misplaced priorities.

“Trump has spent over $60 million on 2 things: falsely attacking DeSantis and paying his own legal fees, not a cent on defeating Biden,” Romeo said. “DeSantis’s sole focus, by contrast, has been campaigning for this country’s future, defeating Biden, and reversing the decline of America.”

Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, shot back that DeSantis’s campaign was taking an “un-American” position.