Donald Trump isn’t just clogging the courts with accusations and conspiracy fan-fiction. He’s making you and me pay for it. Over the last few years, he has repeatedly sued or attempted to sue public officials who dared to investigate him or tell the truth. Those lawsuits almost always collapse under even the lightest legal scrutiny, yet they still rack up hours of government legal work, court processes, and defense strategies funded by taxpayers.
New York is the clearest 2025 case. The state budget now includes a $10 million fund to defend state officials from Trump-related legal attacks. The legislative language describes it as a “legal defence fund for public officers sued or investigated for discharging their official duties.” That fund was inserted amid investigations of Attorney General Letitia James, after her office pursued a fraud case against Trump and his allies launched federal counteractions. The result: New Yorkers are now footing the bill to shield their own justice system from the very man she convicted.
And New York isn’t the only one paying. Trump’s massive RICO lawsuit filed in March 2022 against a roster of his perceived adversaries was dismissed so completely that a federal judge imposed $937,989 in sanctions. The judge called the complaint “completely frivolous,” adding that every claim was a political grievance masquerading as a legal claim.
Even that sanction covers only a slice of the millions spent by targets defending themselves: legal teams reported over $10.4 million in combined fee requests fighting the suit.
That’s the pattern. Trump files a suit to punish, harass, or delay. Courts shake their heads and eventually throw it out. But government legal expenses don’t vanish. Every hour a DOJ attorney spends responding to a Trump-driven claim is paid for by taxpayers. Every public official sued for doing their job needs a defense, and taxpayers cover that too.
He has even sued Congress to avoid accountability. He has sued newspapers to suppress reporting. He has encouraged election-fraud litigation that forced states to spend resources proving elections were legitimate. He has even demanded that the federal government pay him $230 million in claims for legal fees he incurred while being investigated. These moves weren’t about justice. They were about revenge, and the public pays the tab.
His post-presidency has become a taxpayer-funded grievance tour, where courts become his weapon and the public institutions become his shield-buckle. The damage isn’t theoretical. It’s dollars drained from public institutions so a defeated politician can try to punish critics and intimidate truth-tellers.
Unlike most disgruntled litigants, Trump had access to the highest office on earth. His vindictiveness isn’t just petty; it’s dangerous. It sets a precedent that public servants can be financially punished for doing their sworn duty. If that becomes acceptable, justice ceases to function at all.
The bottom line: Trump’s retaliatory lawsuits have already cost the public tens of millions. The longer he keeps weaponizing the courts, the more we all pay for his obsession with revenge.
Appendix of Sources
• New York Senate press release: “Taxpayers On the Hook For $10 Million in Private Attorney Fees” (May 21, 2025)
• CBS6 Albany / budget story: state budget includes $10 million legal defense fund (May 7, 2025)
• Bloomberg Law: “A $10 million state pot could bankroll attorneys representing New York lawmakers in Trump’s crosshairs” (May 9, 2025)
• Reuters: “Judge called lawsuit ‘completely frivolous’ and imposed $937,989 sanctions” (Jan 24, 2023)
• Reuters: “Trump lawyers ask appeals court to throw out nearly $1 million sanctions order” (Feb 28, 2024)