(Bloomberg) — Former President Donald Trump’s political committees raised $50.5 million in the first half of the year, and ended June with $101.9 million in the bank, according their latest filings with the Federal Election Commission.
His post-presidential political finances also benefited from a little more than $31 million he raised last year after losing the 2020 election, when he claimed he needed the money to contest the results. Trump’s campaign spent just $8.6 million challenging the results.
Trump raised the money for Save America, his leadership PAC, and his presidential campaign through two joint fundraising committees. One of them, Trump Make America Great Again or TMAGA, raised $29.8 million from January to June, and transferred $53.8 million to Save America and $6.9 million to the Republican National Committee.
In a statement released by Save America, Trump combined his new fundraising with his transfers of money raised last year, pegging his total haul at $82 million and citing it as evidence of continued support for his policies. “We must have people who will stand for our America First Agenda of lower taxes, fewer regulations, support the Second Amendment, strong borders, honoring our vets, and are very tough on crime,” he said.
Save America, which ended June with more than $90 million in the bank, can donate up to $5,000 to congressional campaigns per election. Through June 30, none of the 19 congressional candidates Trump has endorsed reported receiving a donation from it. Trump’s campaign committee, since renamed the Make America Great Again PAC, didn’t contribute to them either, FEC filings show.
But Trump opened his coffers in July to at least one candidate. Alabama Representative Mo Brooks, who helped lead the challenge of the legally certified Electoral College votes and is Trump’s candidate in 2022 to replace retiring Senator Richard Shelby, issued a press release announcing that Trump’s PAC gave him the maximum contribution.
Brooks may need Trump’s help. Katie Britt, a former chief of staff for Shelby who’s now running for the seat, raised $2.2 million in the second quarter — more than twice the $824,056 for Brooks.
The former president is encouraging his supporters to back candidates who have been loyal to him and to oppose GOP incumbents who voted to impeach or convict him for his role on Jan. 6, when a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to stop the counting of Electoral College votes for President Joe Biden.
Under federal law, Trump faces fewer restrictions on how he can use money raised by Save America than he would for money raised for a campaign, which can’t be converted to personal use. PAC funds face no such limits.
Trump could use the money to fund the various lawsuits he’s pursuing. Save America staged a press conference with Trump on July 7 at his Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey to announce he’s suing Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and their chief executives in his battle to regain access to the social media sites that banned him. The lawsuits seek court orders to restore his accounts, along with punitive damages.
Save America donated $1 million in June to America First Policy Institute, the think tank that promotes Trump’s policy agenda and joined him in announcing his suit against the social media platforms.
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