‘All about the grift’: Trump raises over $150 million for ‘election defense fund’

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After bombarding supporters daily with emails blaring lies about the election and soliciting donations to overcome virtually non-existent voter fraud, President Donald Trump’s political operation has reportedly raised more than $150 million since November 3, a staggering windfall that is being funneled into a Republican joint fundraising committee and a Trump PAC established to fuel his post-White House activities.

While the Trump team’s aggressive emails—sometimes as many as 15 per day—purport to be raising money for an “Official Election Defense Fund” set up to finance the president’s flailing legal effort to overturn the election, the fund does not exist.

“There is no such account,” the Washington Post reported late Monday. “The fundraising requests are being made by the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, a joint fundraising committee that raises money for the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee. As of November 18, that committee also shares its funds with Save America, a new leadership PAC that Trump set up in early November and which he can use to fund his post-presidency activities.” Continue reading.

Trump Campaign Spent $1.8 Million On Trump’s Own Businesses, Records Reveal

“I could be the first presidential candidate to run and make money on it,” Trump once told Fortune magazine.

Donald Trump’s reelection campaign steered a total of $1.8 million to the president’s businesses last year, according to the latest campaign finance filings.

The Trump camp spent close to $200,000 on Trump-owned properties and businesses in the last quarter of 2019 alone, according to an analysis of the Federal Election Commission filings by the Center for Responsive Politics and The New York Times.

There were 150 payments to Trump “entities and properties,” according to the Times. Continue reading.