WASHINGTON>> As former President Donald Trump faces a supercharged Democratic fundraising effort, a persistent drag on his campaign’s coffers may be easing: legal expenses.

A new report shows that the Save America political action committee paid about $827,000 in June for Trump’s legal bills — the first time a monthly total has dipped below $1 million in two years. The Trump-aligned PAC has shelled out an average of nearly $4 million a month on such costs since July 2022, most of it on defending the former president in criminal and civil cases, according to an Associated Press analysis of campaign finance records.

It is not surprising that Save America has recorded a drop. Trump’s weeks-long hush-money trial ended in May — with a conviction — and the former president has enjoyed a string of good fortune in two federal criminal cases that will not go to trial anytime soon, if at all. A fourth case, in Georgia, is also in limbo.

Funds once needed to finance those courtroom battles can instead be spent on the campaign, which has entered a critical phase. On Sunday, President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place at the head of the Democratic ticket, effectively restarting the race. Trump has said he should be reimbursed for the money his campaign spent against Biden.

Democrats have rallied around Harris, whose campaign has since received at least $126 million in donations as of Wednesday, a staggering sum that’s nearly half as much as the Biden reelection effort had raised in the entire second quarter. An additional $150 million has been pledged to Future Forward, an outside group supporting the Democratic ticket.

“This is going to be a close election, and to the extent money for lawyers can now be spent on organizers, that’s helpful,” said Republican strategist Alex Conant.

Trump’s campaign saw a surge in donations after his conviction on May 31. The campaign has not publicly said how much it raised after the July 13 assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pa., but it’s expected to be a significant sum.

Trump’s Save America political action committee has paid at least $83 million to more than 80 law firms and individual attorneys representing him and current and former aides since January 2022, Federal Election Commission records show. Campaign finance experts say using the money to pay for lawyers in cases not related to the campaign or officeholder duties could conflict with a federal ban on the personal use of donor dollars.