Donald Trump has a history of fleecing his supporters. Back in 2021, it was revealed that of the $75 million he’d raised to ostensibly investigate voter fraud, most of it he spent on himself. If you’re donating to his third presidential campaign, then surprise! You might actually be helping the big guy pay off his ever-mounting legal bills.
As per The New York Times, the Trump team made a little, barely noticed change to how their 2024 campaign raises money. When it kicked off in November of last year, 99 cents of every dollar raised went to his campaign, with a mere penny going to the PAC Save America. But starting in February, the fine print changed: Now 90 cents goes to the campaign and 10 cents go to the PAC.
Since the change, it’s estimated that Save America has raised $1.5 million.
But what is the Save America PAC? Begun before Trump even announced his candidacy late last year, it has been used, NYT reports, to pay for “bills related to various investigations into the former president and his allies.” It’s also been used to pay staff salaries, to support other candidates and groups, and on other assorted sundries.
The Save America PAC used to be flush with cash. In February of 2022, it had amassed some $122 million. A lot has changed since then:
By the beginning of 2023, the PAC’s cash on hand was down to $18 million, filings show. The rest had been spent on staff salaries, on the costs of Mr. Trump’s political activities last year — including some spending on other candidates and groups — and in other ways. That included the $60 million that was transferred to MAGA Inc., a super PAC that is supporting Mr. Trump. And more than $16 million went to pay legal bills.
And Trump sure has some legal bills to pay. In the first half of 2022, Save America had spent $1.9 million on such matters. By the second half of last year, that had ballooned to $14.6 million.
For the record, other GOP presidential candidates do not split their donations at all — not Nikki Haley, not Mike Pence, not Vivek Ramaswamy, and not Trump’s biggest critic/rival, Chris Christie.
(Via NYT)