Trump’s Save America PAC Gave $60,000 to Melania’s Fashion Designer

Donald Trump’s Save America political action committee — which raised $250 million on the promise that it would fight voter fraud following the 2020 election — isn’t just spending its funds to pay the legal bills for Jan. 6 witnesses. The PAC also gave $60,000 to a fashion designer associated with former First Lady Melania Trump.

USA Today reported that according to the Federal Elections Commission, from April 7 to June 24 of this year the Save America PAC made six payments totaling $60,000 to Hervé Pierre Braillard, the French designer who styled Melania during the Trump presidency. Braillard — who also designed for previous first ladies like Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama — was given the payments for what the PAC called “strategy consulting.”

However, Save America’s payouts to Braillard, while deceitful, were not technically illegal: While political candidates are not allowed to use PAC money to buy personal items, Trump was not running for any office at the time Save America, a “leadership PAC,” was formed. Thus, there are fewer restrictions on how Save America could spend the money it raised.

Last month, it was revealed that Trump’s organization and his allies were promising to use the Save America PAC to foot the legal bills of more than a dozen witnesses called to testify before the Jan. 6 committee, including $75,000 to pro-Trump lawyer Cleta Mitchell, and $50,000 Steve Bannon.

According to The Washington Postnearly 2.5 million people donated to the Save America PAC, which formed just days after Joe Biden’s victory. Of those 2.5 million, two-thirds of them stated their occupation as retired. Instead of cracking down on voter fraud, however, some of the retirees’ money was used to settle the bill with a fashion designer.