Russian Hoax Update

[struggle4progress]

4. What the RNC has paid to defend Trump in Russia probe

Mark Moore
September 20, 2017 | 9:39am

... RNC spokeswoman Cassie Smedile confirmed to Reuters late Tuesday that John Dowd, the president’s lead lawyer, received $100,000 from the RNC, which also paid $131,250 to the Constitutional Litigation and Advocacy Group, the law firm where Jay Sekulow, another Trump attorney, is a partner.

“They have been paid with funds from a pre-existing legal proceedings account and do not reduce by a dime the resources we can put towards our political work,” Smed ile said in a statement to the news service .
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Officials with the RNC debated over the summer whether party funds could be used to help defray the legal costs to defend Trump in the Russia probes and decided it would be allowable under the law, the Washington Post reported.

The U.S. Federal Election Commission allows the use of private campaign funds to pay legal bills arising from being a candidate or elected official, Reuters reported.

While previous presidential campaigns used such funds to pay for legal matters arising out of election matters like compliance requirements and ballot access issues, election law experts said Trump’s use of the money to cover costs in response to a criminal probe would be a first, the news service reported ...

http://nypost.com/2017/09/20/heres-what-the-rnc-has-paid-to-defend-trump-in-russia-probe/