Jewish Donors Among Funders Of Trump’s Legal Defense

Image by getty images

By Nathan Guttman September 25, 2017

The Republican National Committee’s efforts to pay for President Trump and Donald Trump Jr.’s legal expenses related to the Russia inquiry have been financially supported by a number of Jewish donors.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the RNC spent $300,000 last month on Trump’s legal fees and another $200,000 for his son. The money came from a dedicated legal defense team set up by the RNC and now used by Trump. Vice President Mike Pence has chosen to fund his own legal defense.

The list of donors supporting Trump’s legal defense team includes Home Depot founder and CEO Bernard Marcus, a top Jewish Republican donor. Another prominent name was Len Blavatnik, who contributed $12,700 to the GOP’s legal defense fund this year and $100,000 last year. Blavatnik, who was born in Ukraine, made his fortune from business in Russia through partnerships with allies of Vladimir Putin. He also holds stakes in several Israeli media companies.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO