A federal grand jury in Washington is examining the formation of — and spending by — a fund-raising operation created by Donald J. Trump after his loss in the 2020 election as he was soliciting millions of dollars by baselessly asserting that the results had been marred by widespread voting fraud.
According to subpoenas issued by the grand jury, the contents of which were described to The New York Times, the Justice Department is interested in the inner workings of Save America PAC, Mr. Trump’s main fund-raising vehicle after the election. Several similar subpoenas were sent on Wednesday to junior and midlevel aides who worked in the White House and for Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign.
The fact that federal prosecutors are now seeking information about the fund-raising operation is a significant new turn in an already sprawling criminal investigation into the roles that Mr. Trump and some of his allies played in trying to overturn the election, an array of efforts that culminated with the mob attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021….
Save America has shared only a small portion of its bounty with candidates in contested midterm races. Instead, it has hoarded cash or used it to pay firms and groups devoted to helping Mr. Trump, including his own businesses, or to undermining his enemies.
It has brought in more than $135 million, including more than $30 million transferred from Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign committee in the weeks after the election.
It has spent a little more than $36 million, leaving it with $99 million in the bank at the end of July, the most recent period covered by its monthly filings to the F.E.C. (The Republican National Committee had about one-third as much money in the bank at the end of July — $33.6 million.)
Among the roughly half-dozen current and former Trump aides in the White House and the 2020 presidential campaign who are said to have received subpoenas this week were William B. Harrison, an aide to Mr. Trump in the White House and after his presidency, and William S. Russell, who similarly served in the West Wing and now works for Mr. Trump’s personal office, according to several people familiar with the events.
Julie Radford, who served as chief of staff to Mr. Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and who was not known to have any role in any of Mr. Trump’s post-election activities, also received a subpoena. Nicholas Luna, another personal aide to Mr. Trump who witnessed some of his behavior in his final weeks in office, received a subpoena as well, as did Sean Dollman, who was chief financial officer of Mr. Trump’s 2020 campaign….
The subpoenas sought information about communications with a range of people, many of them lawyers who were also listed on earlier subpoenas that focused on the fake elector plan. Among the lawyers appearing as subjects of interest on both sets of subpoenas were Jenna Ellis, who was part of Mr. Trump’s initial legal team after the election, and Kenneth Chesebro, a Wisconsin-based lawyer who helped devise the fake elector scheme.
But at least one of the most recent subpoenas included a new name: Bruce Marks, a lawyer in Pennsylvania who had worked on efforts to challenge the results of the election there. In an email, Mr. Marks said, “It is a frightening attack on attorney-client privilege if D.O.J. is targeting my communications.” He said that to his knowledge he had not communicated with any White House employees, though he had been in touch with Rudolph W. Giuliani and Boris Epshteyn, who were acting as lawyers for the Trump campaign and Mr. Trump.
Despite such crossovers, it remained unclear how the examination of Save America PAC intersects with the investigation of the fake electors. The electors strand of the inquiry is being led by a federal prosecutor named Thomas P. Windom. But at least one of the new subpoenas bore the name of a different federal prosecutor in Washington who specializes in fraud cases, suggesting that this avenue of inquiry is devoted primarily to examining the spending and fund-raising at Mr. Trump’s PAC.
The PAC has paid more than $3.1 million to an array of law firms for “legal consulting.” And it has paid salaries to a number of aides to Mr. Trump, including at least four of the new subpoena recipients: Mr. Dollman, Mr. Russell, Mr. Luna and Mr. Harrison. It has also paid the lawyers Christina Bobb and Lindsey Halligan, who have been representing Mr. Trump in the classified documents investigation.