On Tuesday, Hotelier Robert Bigelow confirmed that he offered Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump $1 million for his legal fees and agreed to donate another $20 million to a pro-Trump outside group for campaign purposes.
Bigelow's donations also feature the unusual role some political donors are playing in light of the four pending criminal cases against Trump this year.
In an interview, the Nevada-based owner of Budget Suites of America said, "I promised to give him $20 million more, that will be to the super PAC. I gave him $1 million towards his legal fees a few weeks ago."
The commitments, which have not been previously reported, indicate that a huge amount of money is coalescing around Trump, the runaway frontrunner to win the Republican presidential nomination to face Democrat Joe Biden in the November election.
Those cases against Trump include his handling of confidential documents upon leaving office, his attempts to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election, and his payments of hush money to a porn star.
Bigelow, who also established Bigelow Aerospace and funds investigations into extraterrestrial life, claimed that the donation was motivated by his sympathy for the former president and that he believed Trump was unfairly targeted in criminal cases.
"I was just sympathetic. They didn't solicit anything from me," Bigelow said. The $20 million would be spread out but "starts right away," he continued.
The Justice Department claimed the donations act without political bias.
Trump's Increasing Legal Costs
Trump received a $83 million verdict in a defamation case by writer E. Jean Carroll last week. The New York Attorney General also requested $370 million in fines for his false statements to banks about his net worth and is scheduled for judicial decision any moment now.
On Tuesday, the New York Times said that pro-Trump organizations reportedly paid $50 million for legal fees and "investigation-related" costs in 2023. Reuters was not immediately able to confirm that figure.
Bigelow said that he could not recall the exact name of the organization to which he sent the $1 million but that Trump's Save America PAC had been a crucial source of funding for his legal defense. Bigelow remained silent when asked if he considered giving more money to support Trump's legal fees.
He claimed that he had dinner with Trump on Monday at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. He said it was supposed to be one hour, but it became over two hours, and they still ran out of time. Furthermore, he declined to provide details of their conversation.
Bigelow said he was concerned about turmoil in the Middle East and expressed confidence in Trump's ability to handle difficult situations, given his 2017-2021 term in the White House.
