And so is the way he’s been paying for them….
Long before he moved into the White House, Donald J. Trump had cemented his reputation as a lover of lawsuits, turning to federal and state courts for battles big and small. Mr. Trump once even boasted, “I like beating my enemies to the ground.”
Since becoming a public official, he has remained litigious. But he now has found a variety of new ways to fund his legal fights, often without having to personally cover the tab, by turning to money donated to his campaign committees.
Here are some of the highlights of what could be dubbed the Trump Docket, a dizzyingly diverse collection of lawsuits and other legal actions filed by Mr. Trump or against him since he began his bid for the president.
It helps explain why he and his political allies have spent nearly $60 million of donor money on legal and compliance bills since 2015, far more than any other president.
ATTEMPTING TO SILENCE CRITICS
Mr. Trump has been particularly aggressive since he was elected in using the legal system to try to silence or challenge his critics — a tactic he also frequently turned to during his decades as a real estate executive. This has resulted in a series of claims against one-time campaign or White House aides, such as Jessica Denson, who worked as a phone bank supervisor and Hispanic outreach coordinator during the Trump campaign in 2016….
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JUSTICE DEPARTMENT LEGAL ASSIST
One other entity that has provided extensive legal services that benefited Mr. Trump personally has not submitted bills to his campaign: the Justice Department, which has played a key role in defending or arguing in favor of positions held by Mr. Trump in cases that related to his personal finances.
The Justice Department routinely represents any president in many matters related to official duties or issues with constitutional implications. But in Mr. Trump’s case, the department has weighed in on cases in which Mr. Trump has a personal interest. The names of at least 20 Justice Department lawyers appear on court filings related to the fight over Mr. Trump’s tax returns and claims that he is violating the U.S. Constitution by accepting payments from foreign governments.