One of the telemarketers behind the calls, who spoke to a POLITICO reporter on Wednesday, promised that “100% of the contributions go directly to President Trump”.
But the calls are not being made by Trump’s political action committee, Save America. In fact, it is not entirely clear who is behind them. Telemarketers on the line said they were volunteers working for the Campaign to Support Republican Leaders, which is not registered with the Federal Election Commission and has no online presence.
A telemarketer said he was calling from the 33rd floor of an office building in Dallas – a building that houses a WeWork office that was linked to a man named Matthew Tunstall.
Tunstall is the treasurer of PAC Support American Leaders, which lists his address as the same Dallas WeWork office on the Federal Election Commission forms. Another telemarketer on recent automatic calls identified the group behind this as the President Support Campaign. This group also lists Tunstall as its treasurer on the FEC forms.
A 2019 POLITICO investigation identified Support American Leaders PAC as one of more than a dozen pro-Trump PACs with no real ties to Trump. These PACs, sometimes known as frauds, have plagued Republicans – and, to a lesser extent, Democrats – for years. They were so persistent in asking donors for money, under the pretext of going to the Trump campaign, that the royal campaign felt compelled to reject them.
“There is nothing we can do to stop them,” Kelly Sadler, a spokesman for America First’s super PAC, endorsed by Trump, told POLITICO at the time. “This is a problem for the campaign, as well as for us, and also for the RNC.”
Tunstall did not return a request for comment. Not a Trump aide. But the persistence of automatic Trump-related calls underscores how valuable his name remains in political fundraising almost two months after he stepped down.
Trump has been trying to ensure that he is the only one who can use his name to raise money. His team recently sent cease and desist letters to the National Republican Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congress Committee and other groups demanding that they “stop immediately and give up the unauthorized use of President Donald J.’s name and image. Trump. And / or similarity in all fundraising, persuasion and / or problematic speech. ”
Justin Riemer, the main lawyer for the RNC, responded in a letter to Trump’s lawyer on Monday that the group had every right to refer to public figures like Trump in their fundraising requests. Since then, the ex-president has backed away from the threat he made.
Save America raised more than $ 31 million in less than two months after Trump’s allies started it. Trump is also planning to add a super PAC to his post-presidential operation.
PAC Support American Leaders, on the other hand, reported raising nearly $ 2.5 million during the 2020 cycle. Less than $ 375,000 was spent on advertisements and voter contacts to support Trump, and none of that was for the campaign. Trump.
In 2019, a CNN investigation tracked a series of mysterious automatic calls claiming to raise money for Trump’s wall back to the American Leaders Support PAC. These calls used a recording of Trump’s voice to give the impression that the then president was behind his efforts.
The current crop of automatic calls also uses a Trump voice recording. But as they can no longer ask recipients to help support Trump’s agenda, they have shifted their focus to protecting it.
“Follow President Trump’s legacy agenda and prevent Joe Biden from banning assault rifles and halting the construction of the wall,” was a robotic call, before offering recipients a “free US 2021 sticker” as an incentive for their Donation.