Former President Donald Trump‘s new way of dividing fundraising money means the Republican National Committee won’t see as much of it as usual.
Under Trump’s joint financing agreement, donations are directed to the Trump campaign or the Save America PAC, which helps pay for Trump’s legal bills, before the RNC gets a cut of the money.
“No other candidate has used a leadership PAC the way the Trump campaign has,” Adav Noti, the executive director of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center in Washington, told the Associated Press. He said this type of fundraising is unusual and that normally, candidates prioritize raising money that can be directly spent on campaign efforts.
An invitation to a fundraising event obtained by the Associated Press shows that donors’ contributions to the Trump 47 Committee are squeezed through several levels of diversion. All funds are first directed to give the maximum amount allowed to Trump’s campaign. Once the cap on campaign contributions has been hit, donations will go into Trump’s Save America PAC for the federal maximum allowed. Any leftover funds will be given to the RNC.
The Save America PAC is structured as a “leadership PAC,” which means it cannot spend funds on Trump’s campaign. This year, Save America spent 85% of its funds on Trump’s legal expenses, amounting to $8.5 million.
Though legal bills have been prominent in headlines, Save America is not only covering legal expenses, according to the former president’s campaign team.
“Save America also covers a very active and robust post-Presidency office and other various expenses not related to fighting the illegal witch-hunts perpetrated by Crooked Joe Biden,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said.
Before Trump was a candidate, the RNC was financing some of Trump’s legal fees, which former RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said would stop once he became a candidate. Newly appointed Co-Chairwoman Lara Trump said she believed Trump supporters would like to pay for his legal fees.
The current agreement does not direct RNC funds to lawyers but makes sure that when donations are made to the Republican campaign, Save America and the Trump campaign get paid first.
President Joe Biden is crushing Trump in campaign fundraising. Last month, his political operation raised $53 million, bringing its cash on hand to $155 million at the end of February. Meanwhile, Trump’s political operation raised $15.9 million in February and ended the month with $37 million on hand.
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“Trump is in dire need of money to pay his legal fees, and he’s draining his PAC, and he’s spending huge amounts of money out of his campaign committee,” said Brett Kappel, a bipartisan campaign finance attorney.
An April 6 campaign event should help Trump’s campaign boost funds. Guests are asked to contribute $814,600 per person as a “chairman” contributor, which gives the donor a seat at Trump’s table, or $250,000 per person as a “host committee” contributor. Both of these donation options come with an opportunity for a picture with the former president and a copy of Trump’s coffee-table book, Our Journey Together.
