Former President Trump’s new political action committee raised more than $ 30 million during the final weeks of 2020, giving him a large war chest to continue to exercise his political influence, even if 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 available, according to a Federal Election Commission document. Most of that money, $ 30.4 million, was transferred from the Trump Make America Great Again committee.
The money in Save America is only a fraction of what Trump and Republicans have in various political committee accounts. His presidential campaign committee still has $ 10.7 million in the bank. 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 in hand – although the former president is not entitled to all that money.
The four committees raised more than $ 62 million in individual contributions between November 24 and December 31, according to FEC documents filed on Sunday. During that time, Mr. Trump frequently requested funds while casting doubt on the results of the 2020 elections. “President Trump needs YOU to come forward to ensure that we have the resources to protect the integrity of the elections,” the website implored in December. .
Although fundraising efforts focused mainly on allegations of electoral fraud or electoral integrity, a closer look at the fine print showed that, starting a few weeks after election day, 75% of all donations under $ 5,000 were sent to Save America, while 25% of them went to the account of the Republican National Committee, according to the campaign notice. Donations over $ 5,000 went to the Legal Proceedings or RNC Headquarters account up to a certain amount.
The RNC brought in more than $ 18.8 million in individual contributions during the 2020 final stretch and received more than $ 22 million from the Trump Make America Great Again Committee. RNC ended the year with more than R $ 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 Save America’s money to pay for rallies, travel, political ads and other expenses.
Save America commissioned and sent out a poll last week that showed that a considerable majority of Wyoming Republicans had an unfavorable view of Congresswoman Liz Cheney after her vote for Trump’s impeachment. PAC also provided a statement on Trump’s meeting last Thursday with minority leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, Florida, bragging about his popularity and promising to help Republicans retake the House “[H]This endorsement means more than perhaps any endorsement at any time, “proclaims the statement.
In the first 19 days after election day, the Trump campaign, the RNC, the joint fundraising committees and Save America raised $ 207.5 million, according to the Trump campaign. These same committees brought in over $ 80 million in individual contributions between November 24 and December 31, 2020.
A CBS News analysis of FEC expense reports found that the Trump campaign appears to have spent a fraction of what it collected after the election, about $ 6.8 million, in legal expenses that litigate the election result – all labeled “legal advice” or “recount: legal advice” 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 litigation involving the presidential election.
Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee is coming out of the 2020 presidential elections in a much better way than it was four years ago. The DNC had almost $ 39 million in cash to start 2021 and $ 3 million in debt. Four years ago, Democrats had $ 10.5 million in the bank, $ 4 million in debt and struggled with poor fundraising for years – until Joe Biden was approaching the Democratic nomination. There are about $ 40 million set aside for the party in its joint fundraising operation with the Biden campaign, according to The New York Times. This joint fundraising committee had $ 44.7 million in cash at the end of 2020.
Nicole Sganga, Sarah Ewall-Wice and Kabir Khanna contributed reporting