A legal expert warned that Donald Trump can't use his 2024 campaign funds to compensate writer E. Jean Carroll for the $83.3 million in damages he owes her, following her second defamation lawsuit against him.
Dave Aronberg, the state attorney in Florida's Palm Beach County, where the former president's sprawling Mar-a-Lago estate is located, spoke to MSNBC on Monday about the recent verdict and emphasized the need for Trump's transparency in securing financial aid.
"He's got to post a bond just to appeal within 30 days of the judgment. So E. Jean Carroll will get her money at some point," Aronberg told MSNBC on Monday. "He can try to get money from his supporters, but he's got to tell them what it's for ... He can't say, 'Help me with my re-election fund' and then divert the money to E. Jean Carroll, that would be a crime."
Aronberg reiterated this point in a separate statement to Newsweek, saying, "If Trump wants his supporters to pay his debt to E. Jean Carroll, he'll have to disclose it. He won't be able to claim it's for his re-election or any other cause, and then divert it to pay off this $83.3 million judgment. Otherwise, he could be charged with fraud like Steve Bannon, who diverted money from the 'We Build the Wall' campaign."
Trump remains mired in numerous, ongoing legal battles; in the past, Trump-aligned super-political action committees have paid out law firms representing fellow MAGA co-conspirators. The New York Times over the summer reported that the former president has diverted money raised from his 2024 presidential campaign into a PAC to cover personal legal fees.
Carroll, during a recent appearance on CNN, claimed that Trump had "zero power" during the recent defamation trial hearings.
"It's just the people around him that give him power. It's the emperor without clothes," she said. "The courtroom was not a courtroom for him, it was a campaign stop, that was clear. We had two different objectives. Ours was to win a case, his was to win voters. We'll see how that plays out."
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