US elections: money to support Trump court fight could flow to president

As President Donald Trump’s chances of reelection declined last week, his campaign began to launch a relentless stream of emails and text messages that led to a website raising money for an “electoral defense fund” to contest the result.

Like many hallmarks of the Trump presidency, the messages contained capital letters and blatant falsehoods about voter fraud during the Nov.3 election. They also misled supporters about where the money would go.

Trump has vowed to challenge President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in court. But the fine print indicates that much of the money donated to support that effort since Election Day instead paid off campaign debt, resupplied the Republican National Committee, and most recently helped start Save America, a new political action committee that Trump founded. .

The unusual way the Trump campaign is spreading contributions has drawn scrutiny from election watchdogs, who say Trump and his family are poised to benefit financially from the deal.

“This is a bribery fund. That’s the bottom line,” said Paul S. Ryan, a campaign finance attorney for the governance group Common Cause. “Trump may continue this meritless litigation to strip his own supporters of their money and use it for years to come to cushion his own lifestyle while poking fun at a 2024 bid.”

The Democratic National Committee and the Biden campaign are also raising money for a legal fight over the election result. Most of the money is for the DNC’s legal account, though some will go to the party’s general fund, which does not face the same spending restrictions. It could then be used to pay for ads, for example, if Republicans try to get the ballots removed with minor errors – and correctable, according to a DNC official.

Trump’s approach is very different.

In the first days after the election, money that was allegedly earmarked for the legal fight went primarily to Trump’s campaign for debt repayment, as well as to the RNC, as The Wall Street Journal first reported. But on Monday, Trump launched Save America, his new PAC, which is now poised for the largest share in many cases.

Save America is a type of campaign committee often referred to as a “leadership PAC,” which has higher contribution limits ($ 5000 per year) and faces fewer restrictions on how money is spent. Unlike candidate campaign accounts, Leadership PACs can also be used to pay for personal expenses.

A detailed breakdown of how contributions are split shows that 60 percent of any donation now goes to Save America PAC. The next 40 percent goes to an RNC account. Only once a donor reaches the maximum contribution limit for each group ($ 5,000 for the Trump PAC and $ 35,000 for the RNC) will the money spill into the legal accounts of Trump and the RNC, according to finance attorneys campaign who have reviewed the details of the agreement. .

In a statement, Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh did not address questions about how incoming donations are split.

“The president always planned to do this, win or lose, so that he could support the candidates and the issues that matter to him, like fighting voter fraud,” Murtaugh said.

A spokesperson for the RNC did not respond to a request for comment.

Biden’s spokesman, Andrew Bates, said Trump’s fundraising effort was exploitative but not surprising.

“Given the speed at which these lawsuits are being pulled out of court one after another, it is appropriate to know that they were never designed to be successful in the first place and are instead the grim foundation for a dog and pony show,” Bates said.

Leadership PACs have long been abused. While they are intended to be used to raise money that can then be donated to other candidates, legally they can be used to pay for generous and questionable expenses.

“They could pay [Trump] consultation fees for children. They could pay consulting fees for important children. They could buy Don Jr.’s book, which the campaign can’t do, “said Adav Noti, a former Federal Elections Commission attorney who now works for the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center.” They could do anything with it. There is no restriction on personal use. “

(The RNC, not the Trump campaign, spent nearly $ 100,000 buying copies of Donald Trump Jr.’s book, Triggered, last year.)

Trump has refused to acknowledge Biden’s victory and has argued without evidence that widespread electoral fraud has benefited Biden. He has also vowed to fight the results in court. His fundraising messages sought to capitalize on that message.

“THE DEMOCRATS WANT TO STEAL THIS ELECTION! There will be a FRAUD like you’ve never seen before, plain and simple!” It reads on Trump’s fundraising home page. “We need YOUR HELP to make sure we have the resources to protect the results and keep fighting even after Election Day. Don’t wait, take a step NOW to DEFEND the integrity of our election!”

There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 elections. In fact, election officials from both political parties have publicly stated that the elections went well and international observers confirmed that there were no serious irregularities.

The problems that the Trump campaign and its allies have pointed out are typical of all elections: problems with signatures, secret envelopes and postage marks on ballots sent by mail, as well as the possibility that a small number of ballots are incorrectly issued or lost. With Biden leading Trump by wide margins in key states on the battlefield, none of those issues would have any impact on the election outcome.

Legal challenges presented by the Trump campaign have complained that their election observers were unable to analyze the voting process. Many of those challenges have been dismissed by the judges, a few hours after their presentation; And again, none of the complaints show evidence that the election outcome has been affected.

– Associated Press