Tag: Trump grifted his supporters

Trump Raised $76 Million — Then Spent Nothing On Vote Challenges Or Georgia

Trump’s bait-and-switch ads cited the need to contest his election loss and for the GOP to hold the Senate as he sought funds for his “leadership” PAC.

WASHINGTON ― Then-President Donald Trump raised $76 million for a political slush fund by citing the need to challenge his Nov. 3 reelection loss and for Republicans to win two Senate runoffs in Georgia, but through the end of 2020 he did not spend a dime of it on either.

“He put nothing back. He didn’t care,” said one top Republican familiar with the fundraising operation who spoke on condition of anonymity, adding that Trump intends to use the money to pay his personal, non-election-related, legal bills. “He put all this money in the bank for his own legal fights. He never cared about Georgia’s races.”

Trump faces a series of legal problems, both civil and criminal, for issues ranging from sexual misconduct allegations to potential tax fraud inquiries. And his second Senate impeachment trial starts next week; this time he is charged with inciting the violent mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Continue reading.

Trump’s Sleight of Hand: Shouting Fraud, Pocketing Donors’ Cash for Future

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With breathless, often misleading appeals, the former president promised small donors that he was using the money to fight the election results, but in fact stored much of it for future use.

Former President Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party leveraged false claims of voter fraud and promises to overturn the election to raise more than a quarter-billion dollars in November and December as hundreds of thousands of trusting supporters listened and opened their wallets.

But the Trump campaign spent only a tiny fraction of its haul on lawyers and other legal bills related to those claims. Instead, Mr. Trump and the G.O.P. stored away much of the money — $175 million or so — even as they continued to issue breathless, aggressive and often misleading appeals for cash that promised it would help with recounts, the rooting out of election fraud and even the Republican candidates’ chances in the two Senate runoff races in Georgia.

What fraction of the money Mr. Trump did spend after the election was plowed mostly into a public-relations campaign and to keep his perpetual fund-raising machine whirring, with nearly $50 million going toward online advertising, text-message outreach and a small television ad campaign. Continue reading.