Hotel mogul Robert Bigelow confirms he gave Trump $1 million for legal fees

Robert Bigelow, the owner of Budget Suites of America, confirmed on Tuesday that he gave former President Donald Trump $1 million to fund his legal defense against the myriad criminal and civil cases against him and further plans to contribute much more to a pro-Trump super PAC.

Trump faces two criminal cases from special counsel Jack Smith, as well as one each from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. On the civil side, he is fighting fraud charges brought by New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James and defamation claims from writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump has denied wrongdoing in all of the cases and insisted that each is part of a broader political witch hunt designed to derail his 2024 White House bid. 

"I gave him $1 million towards his legal fees a few weeks ago. I made a promise to give him $20 million more, that will be to the super PAC," Bigelow told the outlet. "I was just sympathetic. They didn't solicit anything from me."

He further indicated that he had dinner with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence on Monday evening. Motivating his support for Trump, he said, are his concerns over the ongoing violence in the Middle East and what he perceived to be Trump's ability to tackle that issue.

Bigelow's $1 million may only wind up accounting for a small fraction of Trump's legal expenses, however, as a jury last week awarded Carroll $83.3 million in damages related to defamatory statements he made while in office.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.