Ivanka Trump at New York State Supreme Court in New York on November 8, 2023.
Photo: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Over the past few years, Ivanka Trump has made it very clear that she wants nothing to do with any of the headaches associated with her father Donald Trump’s business and political operations. Ivanka worked in the Trump Organization and then her father’s White House administration for the entirety of her adult life, but she and her husband, Jared Kushner, backed away as his term ended. Then, in November 2022, she skipped her dad’s 2024 campaign announcement and posted a statement online declaring, “I do not plan to be involved in politics. While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena.”
But it turns out she’s not averse to the perks that come with her dad’s political career, like letting his super-PAC cover her legal bills.
Business Insider reviewed Federal Election Commission records and found that Donald Trump’s Save America PAC spent a total of $2.3 million last year for two law firms that solely represented Ivanka:
In 2023, Save America disbursed a total of $1,303,667.11 to the law firm Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders and $1,042,479 to the firm Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel, & Frederick.
Both firms represented Ivanka Trump in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ sprawling lawsuit against the Trump Organization, Donald Trump, his three eldest children, and several executives over its finances. The attorney general’s office alleged that the firm misrepresented its finances to obtain favorable tax, bank-loan, and insurance rates.
The PAC spent another $5.3 million on a law firm that represented Ivanka along with her father, her brothers Don Jr. and Eric, and the Trump Organization. None of the suits that incurred the fees were related to Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign (unless you subscribe to the idea that every bad thing happening in Trump’s life is the result of political persecution).
Trump founded the Save America PAC days after his 2020 election loss, and repeatedly solicited donated by telling supporters that he needed money for “election defense.” But much of the money Trump collected has gone to covering his legal expenses in various cases that have nothing to do with bogus “election fraud” claims. Save America and MAGA PAC, another political group controlled by Trump, have spent more than $50 million on legal fees, according to Business Insider.
It doesn’t appear that Ivanka really needed PAC donor money to cover her $2.3 million legal bills, as she and Jared have an estimated net worth of over $1 billion. And it certainly seems hypocritical for Ivanka to take money from her father’s political action committee after she dramatically declared that she wants nothing to do with politics. But in her defense, even obscenely wealthy people like free stuff. They essentially drove a dump truck full of money up to her house. She’s not made of stone!
