What we know: The Republican National Committee has paid roughly $430,000 to lawyers representing the president and his eldest son, Don Jr. A White House official told me Trump will not be reimbursing the RNC for these costs. However, the White House official says he has pledged to spend the same amount, from his personal finances, "to defray the costs of legal fees for his associates, including former and current White House aides." 
 
 President Trump has promised to spend at least $430,000 of his own money to defray legal costs incurred by campaign associates and White House staff due to the Russia investigations, a White House official tells Axios. 
 
 To understand the details of the RNC's payments for Trump and his son's lawyers, read this WashPost report — the substance of which the RNC confirmed to Axios. 
 
 What we don't know: The president and his legal team haven't announced the mechanism to make these payments. The arrangement raises a number of questions, none of which the White House official answered: 
 
 Is the plan to put this money into a general legal defense fund that all of the president's associates could request access to, or will the money be disbursed directly to attorneys? 
 
 to put this money into a general legal defense fund that all of the president's associates could request access to, or will the money be disbursed directly to attorneys? $430,000 is a relatively small amount, given the ballooning legal fees of Trump's associates who are under the most intense investigation. Will Trump's legal fund pay the bills of associates with the most expensive legal fees, including Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort? 
 
 given the ballooning legal fees of Trump's associates who are under the most intense investigation. Will Trump's legal fund pay the bills of associates with the most expensive legal fees, including Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort? Who decides which of the president's associates get the money and when they get it? 
 
 which of the president's associates get the money and when they get it? What are the president's intentions regarding future legal bills for the first family? Will the RNC keep paying them? 
 
 regarding future legal bills for the first family? Will the RNC keep paying them? Why isn't the president reimbursing the RNC in addition to partially defraying his associates' costs? 
 
 Bottom line: TBD on everything. The official said: "We're working on appropriate legal and ethical approval" — and said the president hasn't ruled out spending more of his own money on these legal fees. It's also unclear what the president will do in the future as he and the first family continue to rack up legal bills. 
 
 Update: I'm told there's no chance Trump will pay Flynn's legal bills. A source close to Flynn told me that the former National Security Adviser will not accept contributions to his legal defense fund from President Trump or the Trump campaign. Nor will he accept funds from the RNC. ||||| 
 
 President Trump listens to Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló at a meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) 
 
 President Trump plans to spend at least $430,000 of his personal funds to help cover the mounting legal costs incurred by White House staff and campaign aides related to the ongoing investigations of Russian meddling in last year’s election, a White House official said. 
 
 The Washington Post reported last month that the Republican National Committee had spent roughly that amount to pay lawyers representing Trump and his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., in the multiple investigations. 
 
 The White House official said Trump’s pledge is not meant as a reimbursement to the RNC, but that it does not preclude Trump from doing that at a later time or for increasing the amount available for his aides. 
 
 [RNC taps legal account to help pay for lawyers for President Trump and son Donald Jr. in Russia probes] 
 
 The official requested anonymity to discuss the president’s plans, first reported by Axios, because Trump is not prepared to make a formal announcement. 
 
 President Trump says the "real" Russia story involves a deal on U.S. uranium mines under the Obama administration struck when Hillary Clinton ran the State Department and not the "hoax" collusion story. (Reuters) 
 
 The arrangement drew immediate criticism from Walter Shaub, the former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, who suggested on Twitter that it is rife with potential conflicts. 
 
 “A potential witness or target of an investigation (and boss of investigators) paying for legal fees of other potential witnesses or targets?” Shaub wrote. 
 
 A potential witness or target of an investigation (and boss of investigators) paying for legal fees of other potential witnesses or targets? https://t.co/uUl8FS4YBe — Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) October 21, 2017 
 
 The White House official said many issues remain to be resolved, including how the money will be accessed and who can request it. The White House's and campaign aides' legal costs are expected to balloon well beyond what Trump is putting forward. 
 
 Russian meddling — and other related issues — are being investigated by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III as well as House and Senate committees. 
 
 The RNC reported last month that it paid $100,000 to Trump's personal attorney John Dowd and $131,250 to Jay Sekulow, another member of his legal team. 
 
 The party is also covering the mounting legal costs for Donald Trump Jr., spending nearly $200,000 on lawyers who helped him prepare for testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Those payments included more than $166,000 to attorney Alan Futerfas. 
 
 The RNC is using a pool of money stockpiled for election recounts and other legal matters to pay the costs of Trump and his son. 
 
 RNC officials concluded that it is permissible for the party to pay for the president's legal fees, according to a person familiar with the conversations. Separately, party and administration officials are working to determine whether executive branch staff members could have their legal fees defrayed by the RNC or private legal defense funds. 
 
 The information about the interactions has been provided to congressional committees as well as special counsel Robert S. Mueller as they investigate whether Trump associates coordinated with Russian efforts to interfere in the U.S. election, according to people familiar with the inquiries. (The Washington Post) 
 
 Matea Gold contributed to this story.
– As the legal bills mount for members of Donald Trump's campaign team and White House staff, the president has pledged to pay for some of that cost personally, Axios reports. On Saturday a White House official said the president has promised to spend at least $430,000 to help pay the legal fees of associates and staffers caught up in the investigations into Russian meddling in last year's presidential election. That amount is roughly the same the Republican National Committee has spent on lawyers defending Trump's son Donald Jr., though the White House says the president's financial pledge will not go to reimburse the RNC. At this point, it is unclear how the money will be divvied out or which associates or staffers will be eligible to receive it. The White House official says, "We're working on appropriate legal and ethical approval." Ethical approval could prove to be a thorny issue. Not long after news broke about the president's plan, the former Director of the US Office of Government Ethics Walter Schaub pointed out on Twitter that such a scenario could be a conflict of interest, the Washington Post reports. "A potential witness or target of an investigation (and boss of investigators) paying for legal fees of other potential witnesses or targets?" Schaub tweeted. The RNC reported last month that it has paid more than $231,000 to members of Trump's legal team, on top of the $430,000 it has spent on Trump Jr.'s defense.