[1]https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/year-election-rnc-spending-hundreds-
   thousands-cover-trumps/story?id=82114367
   More than a year after the 2020 presidential election, the GOP is still
   covering numerous legal bills for the benefit of former President
   Donald Trump -- and the price tag is ruffling the feathers of some
   longtime GOP donors who are now critical of Trump.
   In October and November alone, the Republican National Committee spent
   nearly $720,000 of its donor money on paying law firms representing
   Trump in various legal challenges, including criminal investigations
   into his businesses in New York, according to campaign finance records.
   Trump's legal bills have sent the Republican Party's total legal
   expenditures soaring in recent months, resulting in $3 million spent
   just between September and November. In contrast, the Democratic
   National Committee has been gradually winding down its legal expenses
   over the last few months.
   Traditionally, national political parties have at times covered
   presidents and their advisers' legal fees in matters related to their
   presidential campaigns. And throughout his presidency, the Republican
   Party has footed legal bills for Trump, his family members and his
   political allies, going back to the days of Special Counsel Robert
   Mueller's investigation into the 2016 election, through the impeachment
   proceedings following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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   accountable 'at any level'
   But experts say the GOP's recent payments of Trump's attorney fees
   after he left the White House, for investigations that are not relevant
   to the next presidential campaign, is a very unusual move that's
   indicative of the ongoing influence that the former president has over
   the party.
   "Campaign finance law does not strictly prohibit a national party
   committee from paying for private legal expenses, but it is very rare
   for a party committee to use donor money in that way," said Brendan
   Fischer, federal reforms director at nonpartisan government ethics
   group Campaign Legal Center.
   "And it is entirely unprecedented for a national party committee to
   cover a former president's private legal bills, especially when those
   legal expenses arise out of an investigation into activity that
   preceded Trump's time in the White House, and when Trump is sitting on
   millions of his own PAC funds," Fischer said.
   RNC spokesperson Emma Vaughn told ABC News that the RNC's executive
   committee approved paying for "certain legal expenses that related to
   politically motivated legal proceedings waged against President Trump,"
   while declining to comment on which specific cases are being paid for.
   again clashed over the use of Trump's name in fundraising appeals, with
   the GOP eventually reaching an agreement to use his name.
   In addition to covering many of Trump's legal bills, the RNC has paid
   hundreds of thousands of dollars supporting lawsuits across the country
   "to ensure the integrity of our elections," said RNC spokeswoman
   Danielle Alvarez.
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   speaks out about Jan. 6
   Gearing up for the 2022 election cycle, the RNC has been building an
   aggressive nationwide "election integrity program," engaging in
   election-related lawsuits in states like Georgia, Florida, Arizona and
   Texas, stationing state-directors in battleground states, engaging
   hundreds of attorneys at the state level and training thousands of poll
   watchers.
   The party is engaged in 30 such "election integrity" lawsuits, Alvarez
   said, with financial disclosures showing payments of $500,000 to the
   law firm of Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, more than $260,000 to
   McGuireWoods, and $243,000 to Consovoy McCarthy PLLC.
   Even with all the legal expenditures, the RNC has continued to build a
   huge war chest over the past year. Backed by megadonors that include
   Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman and casino mogul Steve Wynn,
   the RNC ended November with more than $65 million in cash on hand.

References

   1. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/year-election-rnc-spending-hundreds-thousands-cover-trumps/story?id=82114367