Social media users share online content claiming that former President Donald J. Trump’s accusation cost $ 33 million. There is no evidence to suggest that this is true.
Examples of these allegations can be seen here and here.
One report here reads: “How does an indictment cost $ 33 million if those involved are already paid with their expenses? Not curious? “
Trump was indicted by the Democratic-led House in December 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress over his dealings with Ukraine over political rival Joe Biden, now president. Trump was acquitted by the Republican Senate in February 2020 (here).
In 2021, the House of Representatives voted to accuse Trump of inciting the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6 by a pro-Trump mob, but the Senate acquitted him on February 16, 2021 by a vote of 57 -43 (here).
The social media posts do not specify which accusation cost $ 33 million, or provide a source for how the figure is calculated.
2019-2020 PROTECTION
In an article on January 31, 2020, Roll Call estimated that Trump’s first indictment cost $ 1.83 million. The article contains a video explaining that Bill Clinton’s indictment cost $ 79.6 million and other congressional investigations such as the Iran-Contra case cost $ 47.4 million, the Benghazi investigation $ 6.77 million and the Mueller investigation cost $ 32 million. CNN also puts the cost of Clinton’s accusation at $ 80 million (here).
Fox Business estimates the cost of Trump’s first indictment is about $ 3.06 million, estimated by the Heritage Foundation (here).
Yahoo Finance explained in a January 3, 2020 article that the cost of Trump’s first indictment would amount to approximately $ 11.5 million after the remuneration of members of Congress and their staff members was calculated for the committee hearings and votes for the indictment. .
2021 PROTECTION
No estimates have yet been made about the cost of Trump’s second indictment.
Fox Business on February 13 pointed out that the price of Trump’s second indictment is likely to be lower than the first: “… the first Trump indictment was much longer than the second – the Senate has two weeks and six days left. the accusation of Trump debated. in 2020, but only five days in 2021. ”
(here).
VERDICT
Untrue. As of February 19, 2021, there is no estimate or evidence that the accusation of Donald Trump cost $ 33 million.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.