The Democratic National Committee (DNC) spent more than $1.5 million on legal fees for President Biden during special counsel Robert Hur's probe into his handling of classified documents, according to campaign finance records and sources familiar with the matter. This revelation comes as Biden's campaign has recently attacked former President Donald Trump for using campaign funds to cover his own legal expenses.
Axios reported that the DNC, which has been collecting the largest donations for Biden's re-election effort, paid $1.05 million to Bob Bauer PLLC, the professional limited liability company of Biden's lead attorney, Bob Bauer, between July 2023 and February 2024. These payments were primarily related to the special counsel investigation, including the hiring of veteran lawyer David Laufman, a former Justice Department official who previously oversaw the politically sensitive probes into Hillary Clinton's email server and Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Additionally, the DNC increased its monthly payments to law firm Hemenway & Barnes from $15,000 to $100,000 starting in July 2023. Special counsel Hur's final report identified Jennifer Miller, who works at Hemenway & Barnes, as one of Biden's attorneys. However, the DNC declined to specify the exact amount spent on legal work related to Hur's probe.
This development is at odds with the Biden campaign's recent criticism of Trump's use of campaign donations to fund his various legal battles. Last weekend, the Biden campaign's finance chair said on MSNBC, "Every single time you give to the campaign, we're going straight to talk to voters...We are not spending money on legal bills or hawking gold sneakers," referencing Trump's activities.
In response to the news, DNC spokesperson Alex Floyd told Axios, "There is no comparison - the DNC does not spend a single penny of grassroots donors' money on legal bills - unlike Donald Trump, who actively solicits legal fees from his supporters and has drawn down every bank account he can get his hands on, like a personal piggy bank."
While it is true that Trump has likely spent significantly more campaign money on legal fees due to the numerous criminal and civil investigations he faces, the revelation of the DNC's payments to Biden's lawyers during the Hur investigation has exposed a level of hypocrisy in the Biden campaign's stance.
In 2021, when the Republican National Committee (RNC) began paying some of Trump's expenses related to the state civil fraud probe into his real estate empire, a DNC spokesperson told The New York Times, "If we were the RNC's donors, we would certainly be asking questions."
After the Justice Department appointed Hur as special counsel in Biden's documents case in January 2023, Biden officials debated whether to have the DNC cover the legal costs, according to a person familiar with the matter. This decision was made despite the DNC's previous criticism of the RNC for covering Trump's legal expenses.
The Trump campaign responded to the news, stating, "Joe Biden and the Democrats' entire campaign against President Trump is based upon lies and hypocrisy - they have repeatedly stated they don't spend money on Biden's legal bills, while they attack President Trump for having to defend himself from Biden's witch hunts."
As the 2024 presidential campaign heats up, the revelations surrounding the DNC's funding of Biden's legal defense during the special counsel investigation are likely to fuel further debate and accusations of hypocrisy from both sides of the political aisle.
