Donald Trump’s campaign to overturn election cost taxpayers $500m

The avalanche of unsuccessful court cases brought by the “Stop the Steal” campaign has also run up a legal bill exceeding $2.2 million

Credit: Reuters

Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the result of the presidential election has left US taxpayers with a bill topping half a billion dollars.

According to the Washington Post, at least $488 million has been spent by the federal government and another $28 million by states in dealing with the January 6 insurrection and stepping up security in the aftermath.

The avalanche of unsuccessful court cases brought by the “Stop the Steal” campaign has also run up a legal bill exceeding $2.2 million.

An estimated 25,000 troops were deployed in Washington DC after the uprising, which claimed five lives. With plans in place to maintain the security measures until mid-March, the bill is likely to increase further.

Local measures were taken elsewhere in the country amid fears that Trump supporters were planning more protests.

The "ring of steel" will be in place this week as the Senate embarks on Mr Trump’s second impeachment trial on Tuesday. The former president is accused of inciting insurrection.

Bruce Castor, who will lead Mr Trump’s defence team, said Democrats were not blamed for rioting during the Black Lives Matter protests over the summer, despite speaking in support of them. “But here, when you have the president of the United States give a speech and says that you should peacefully make your thinking known to the people in Congress, he’s all of a sudden a villain," he said.

Mr Trump is accused of whipping his supporters into a frenzy with claims of election fraud before they stormed the Capitol.

But one of the former president’s most loyal supporters, South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, said it was for history to judge Mr Trump’s role in the riots – not the Senate.

"I think I’m ready to move on, I’m ready to end the impeachment trial because I think it’s blatantly unconstitutional," he said on Face the Nation.

"As to Donald Trump, he is the most popular figure in the Republican Party. He had a consequential presidency. January 6 was a very bad day for America, and he’ll get his share of blame in history."

Meanwhile Liz Cheney, the senior Republican congresswoman who was censured by her party for backing impeachment, defended her stance.

“We are the party of Lincoln, we are not the party of QAnon or anti-Semitism or Holocaust-deniers or white supremacy or conspiracy theories. That’s not who we are,” she said on Fox News Sunday.