Former President Trump’s new political action committee has brought in more than $ 30 million during the last weeks of 2020, giving him a huge war chest to continue his political influence, even though he is no longer in office.
Save America, a leadership PAC created after the general election, entered 2021 with more than $ 31 million in cash on hand, according to a federal election commission. Most of the money, $ 30.4 million, was transferred from the Trump Make America Great Again Committee.
The cash in Save America is only a fraction of what Mr. Trump and Republicans hold in different accounts of the political committee. His presidential campaign committee still has $ 10.7 million in the bank. Mr. Trump’s joint fundraising committees with the Republican National Committee, Trump Make America Great Again Committee and Trump Victory have about $ 63 million in cash on hand – although the former president is not entitled to all this money.
The four committees raised more than $ 62 million from individual contributions between Nov. 24 and Dec. 31, according to FEC documents filed Sunday. During that time, Mr. Trump regularly called for funds while questioning the outcome of the 2020 election. “President Trump must act on your part to make sure we have the means to protect the integrity of the election,” the website pleaded in December.
While fundraising efforts were largely focused on allegations of voter fraud or electoral integrity, the fine print closely showed that 75% of all donations under $ 5,000 were sent to Save America a few weeks after Election Day, while 25% of those donated by the campaign, took up the Republican National Committee’s bill. Donations of more than $ 5,000 went up to a certain amount to the Legal Proceedings or Headquarters Account of the RNC.
The RNC raised more than $ 18.8 million in individual contributions during the last period of 2020 and received more than $ 22 million from the Trump Make America Great Again Committee. The RNC closed the year with more than $ 80 million in the bank.
Mr. Trump can contribute up to $ 5,000 from his leadership PAC to any candidate he chooses to support. He can also use the money from Save America to pay for events, travel, political advertising, and other expenses.
Save America ordered and aired last week showing that a significant majority of Wyoming Republicans had an unfavorable view of Congresswoman Liz Cheney after her vote to accuse Trump. The PAC also made a statement about Trump’s meeting last Thursday with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in Florida, boasting about his popularity and pledge to help Republicans recapture the House. “[H]underwriting means more than any endorsement at any one time, ”the statement announced.
In the first 19 days after election day, Trump’s campaign, the RNC, the joint fundraising committees, and Save America raised $ 207.5 million, according to Trump’s campaign. The same committees raised more than $ 80 million in individual contributions between November 24 and December 31, 2020.
According to a CBS News analysis of FEC spending reports, Trump’s campaign appears to have spent a fraction of what it raised after the election about $ 6.8 million in legal costs that determined the outcome of the election – it are all ‘legal consultation’ or ‘tell: legal consultation’ after November 3. FEC reports also show that the RNC spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on ‘legal and compliance services’ after election day, although it is not immediately clear how much of that was spent on lawsuits involving the presidential election.
Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee of the 2020 presidential election is in a much better state than four years ago. The DNC has nearly $ 39 million in cash to start in 2021 and $ 3 million in debt. Four years ago, Democrats had $ 10.5 million in the bank, $ 4 million in debt and struggled for years with poor fundraising – until Joe Biden began closing the Democratic nomination. According to The New York Times, about $ 40 million from the joint fundraising operation with the Biden campaign was earmarked for the party. The Joint Fundraising Committee has $ 44.7 million in cash at the end of 2020.
Nicole Sganga, Sarah Ewall-Wice and Kabir Khanna reported