Topline
Former President Trump pulled in $255.4 million in political donations from his supporters in the eight weeks following the 2020 election, according to new federal filings, but much of this money—which was solicited to fund challenges to the outcome based on specious claims of voter fraud—will likely be put to other uses.
Key Facts
The fundraising total was reported in Federal Election Commission filings released over the weekend from WinRed, a platform used by Republicans to process online donations, and doesn’t include fundraising through other channels by Trump’s campaign committee, joint committees with the Republican National Committee and new political action committee, Save America, reports from which were expected to filter in later Sunday.
Trump’s fundraising success ebbed and flowed during this period: As noted by The New York Times, Trump and the RNC raised over $2 million every day on WinRed from the election until Dec. 14, the day of the Electoral College vote, pulling in an average of $2.9 million in the two weeks leading up to that vote.
The number dipped after the Electoral College voted to make Joe Biden president, and then spiked again at the end of the year, as Republicans rallied around the (false) claim that Biden’s win could be overturned when Congress voted to certify the Electoral College’s results on Jan. 6.
Fundraising then dropped off after the deadly Capitol attack when Trump largely stopped soliciting money from his supporters to support his election fraud claims.
Key Background
CNN calculated that during the first month of Trump’s post-election battle, the president’s political operation sent out 414 fundraising appeals via email and 132 by text message. Hundreds more were sent before Jan. 6, with many directing supporters to an “Election Defense Fund,” according to a tracker of the emails. Though the pitch in many of the messages was to help finance Trump’s unfounded—and ultimately unsuccessful—legal challenges to the election outcome, it’s unclear yet how much of the money actually went toward this cause. Bloomberg reported that as of Dec. 4 the total spent on overturning the election by the Trump campaign was $8.8 million. The fine print at the bottom of some emails disclosed that large portions of the donations would go to Trump’s leadership PAC, Save America, which was created in the days after the election. Unlike contributions to a regular PAC, money in leadership PACs can be used “to fund basically anything,” explains the Washington Post’s Philip Bump.
Crucial Quote
“The money in the Save America PAC, unlike money contributed to a standard campaign committee, can be used to benefit Trump in innumerable ways,” wrote Bump. “Memberships to golf clubs. Travel. Rallies. Even payments directly to Trump himself, as long as he declares it income.”
Surprising Fact
The Republican National Committee will also take a chunk out of the fundraising sum, according to The New York Times, which reports that roughly 25% of the funds raised through Trump’s email and texting operations will go to the RNC
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Trump Raised $250 Million Since Election To Challenge Outcome—Here’s Where Most Of The Money Will Actually Go - Forbes
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