Washington Post: Trump’s impeachment defense: Who is paying the president’s lawyers?

As President Trump faces mounting legal bills from his impeachment trial, he is drawing on national party coffers flush with donations from energized supporters — unlike the last president to be impeached who left the White House “dead broke.”

The Republican National Committee is picking up the tab for at least two of Trump’s private attorneys in the ongoing trial, an arrangement that differs from the legal fund then-president Bill Clinton set up, only to see it fail to raise enough to cover his millions of dollars in bills before he left office. …

The 2014 measure that lifted some limits on national party fundraising means that along with a $35,500 check to the RNC, a donor also can spread $319,500 between the additional accounts for conventions, headquarters and legal proceedings. …

The provision was crafted by leaders of both parties with the help of leading campaign finance attorneys, including Marc Elias, former general counsel of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. That the well-known Democratic election lawyer had a hand in expanding the amount the RNC can raise for Trump’s impeachment trial is not lost on some campaign finance reformers.

“It was horrible the way we blew up the limits on donations to national parties because it allows people to buy access and influence,” said Paul S. Ryan, a vice president at Common Cause, a government watchdog group. “Contrary to popular perception, the Democratic Party has long fought to loosen restrictions on money and politics, hand-in-hand with the Republicans. The public doesn’t think that because Democrats on the stump talk about campaign finance reform.”