Justice Department investigations into former President Donald Trump have cost taxpayers $9million over roughly four months
Investigations into ex-President Donald Trump’s alleged classified documents mishandling and efforts to overturn the 2020 election results have cost more than $9million.
The office of special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the probes, spent over $5.4million on employee salaries, travel, rent and supplies from November 2022 to the end of March, according to a Justice Department statement of expenditures released on Friday.
Justice Department agencies spent an additional $3.8million to support Smith, the budget summary shows.
That includes ‘the cost of protective details for the Special Counsel when warranted’, states the document.
Former President Donald Trump (second from right) appeared on classified document charges after a federal indictment at Wilkie D Ferguson Jr United States Courthouse, alongside his aide Walt Nauta (far left) and attorneys Chris Kise and Todd Blanche in Miami, Florida, on June 13 (Picture: Reuters)
The indictment contained an image showing boxes of records stored in a bathroom and shower in ex-President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate (Picture: AP)
The statement of expenditures was disclosed a few weeks after Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 felony charges around his alleged mishandling of classified documents, and a day after his valet Walt Nauta pleaded not guilty to six charges relating to him allegedly assisting Trump in hiding classified records.
While the Justice Department’s investigations into Trump have cost American taxpayers millions of dollars, Trump’s indictment in the classified documents case has boosted his 2024 presidential campaign.
Trump on the day after he was criminally charged at a Miami federal courthouse said that the ‘indictment hoax’ raised him $6.6million. The former president said that $2.1million of that was donated at his Bedminster golf club where he delivered a speech hours after his arraignment. The other $4.5million came from digital fundraising.
Former President Donald Trump spoke at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, hours after his arraignment on June 13 (Picture: AP)
The Justice Department on Friday also released cost summaries of investigations by two other special counsels.
Special counsel John Durham – who was appointed to investigate the FBI’s probe of Trump and the Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election – spent $1.1million from October to March winding down his inquiry. Durham’s investigation has cost a total of about $7.6million since he was tasked in 2020 during the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, special counsel Robert Hur, who is probing whether President Joe Biden mishandled classified documents found in his home and former office, spent $615,962 in two-and-a-half month covered by the summary.
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The office of special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing probes into ex-President Donald Trump, spent $9million in about four months.