Donald Trump’s campaign raised more than $250 million after the November 2020 election as part of a purported effort to “Stop the Steal” and combat “election fraud,” but most of the funds were diverted for other purposes, according to the House Jan.
6 committee report.
(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump’s campaign raised more than $250 million after the November 2020 election as part of a purported effort to “Stop the Steal” and combat “election fraud,” but most of the funds were diverted for other purposes, according to the House Jan.
6 committee report.
“President Trump and his campaign ripped off supporters by raising more than $250 million by claiming they wanted to fight fraud they knew did not exist and to challenge an election they knew he lost,” the committee’s report says, echoing earlier news reports about how funds raised for the post-election challenges were used.
The committee’s report, released late Thursday, documents a “false election fraud narrative” in fundraising emails and text messages, some sent under Trump’s name, asking for donations to help him challenge results after he lost the 2020 presidential race to Joe Biden.
The panel alleges that the fundraising amounted to a “rip-off” because the bulk of the funds were diverted for other purposes.
A large chunk of the $250 million raised was diverted to Save America, a leadership PAC formed by Trump that, by law, could only spend $5,000 challenging the result of the election.
The biggest expenditure Save America made was the $40 million it donated this past Nov. 3 to Make America Great Again Inc., the Trump-allied super-PAC which is going to support him in his 2024 election bid.
Save America also paid out millions of dollars to companies affiliated with the former president, several of his advisers and to entities tied to some of those advisers.
According to the report, Save America has paid Dan Scavino, a former deputy chief of staff in the Trump White House, $9,700 a month in salary since July 2021.
It has also paid $20,000 per month to an entity called Hudson Digital LLC, which was formed in January 2021, for “digital consulting,” according to Federal Election Commission filings. The company, which has received $420,000 from the fund since its inception, has no website, but its address is the same as that of Scavino and his wife in Yorktown Heights, New York.
The report says that Save America has been paying $12,000 per month to Nick Luna, a personal assistant to Trump, from April through December of 2021, citing FEC filings.
The Make America Great Again PAC along with Save America paid a total of $170,000 to an entity called Red State Partners in 2021 and 2022. The company, registered in Delaware, has an address in Miami that is the same as one used by Luna and his wife, Cassidy Dumbauld, according to the report.
Scavino did not respond to a phone call seeking comment.
Luna declined to comment.
A Trump representative, Steven Cheung, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Save America has also paid out $327,000 to an entity called Pericles LLC, formed the day after Hudson Digital, whose corporate officers include Vince Haley, Taylor Swindle and Ross Worthington, the report found.
Haley is a former policy adviser to Trump, according to the report. Swindle is chief financial officer for Gingrich 360, a consulting and media production company. Ross Worthington is the former White House speechwriter who wrote the speech Trump delivered on the Ellipse on Jan.
6, according to the report.
Save America paid $167,674 to Robert Gabriel Jr., another writer associated with Trump’s Jan. 6 speech, through Gabriel Strategies LLC, and $100,000 in “strategy consulting” payments to Herve Pierre Braillard, a designer favored by Melania Trump.
Save America also shelled out $2.1 million for legal services.
The report notes that 67% of that money went to law firms representing witnesses called to testify before the Jan. 6 committee.
The PAC also paid $10.6 million to Event Strategies Inc., the company that staged the Jan.
6 rally, according to the report.
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