TL;dr Grifters gonna grift
Trump’s PAC collected $75 million this year, but so far the group has not put money into pushing for the 2020 ballot reviews he touts
By
Josh Dawsey and Rosalind S. Helderman
Today at 12:32 p.m. EDT
Former president Donald Trump’s political PAC raised roughly $75 million in the first half of this year as he trumpeted the false notion that the 2020 election was stolen from him, but the group has not devoted funds to help finance the ongoing ballot review in Arizona or to push for similar endeavors in other states, according to people familiar with the finances.
Instead, the Save America leadership PAC — which has few limits on how it can spend its money — has paid for some of the former president’s travel, legal costs and staff, along with other expenses, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of the anonymity to describe the group’s inner workings. The PAC has held onto much of its cash.
Even as he assiduously tracks attempts by his allies to cast doubt on the integrity of last year’s election, Trump has been uninterested in personally bankrolling the efforts, relying on an array of other entities and supporters to fund the endeavors, they said.
The tactic allows Trump to build up a war chest to use in the 2022 midterms on behalf of candidates he favors — and to stockpile cash for another potential White House run, an unprecedented maneuver for a former president.
In the meantime, the months-long audit of Maricopa County’s ballots in Arizona — which is expected to costs millions of dollars — is being paid for primarily by nonprofits that do not disclose their donors and private individuals such as former Overstock chief executive Patrick Byrne. A lawsuit seeking a similar audit in Fulton County, Ga., has been financed by small donations, according to the group that brought the claim.
A spokeswoman for Trump did not answer questions on whether the group is considering putting money into the ballot review efforts.
The group will have to publicly disclose its fundraising and spending for the first half of the year by July 31.
After leaving office, Trump has repeatedly pushed for a range of states to overturn the election results, sending out a blizzard of statements with unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. He has consulted with state officials in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia, and has described state ballot reviews as the key to prove he won the 2020 election.
And his political group has repeatedly urged donors to give by claiming Trump is working to protect their vote — fundraising pitches that his advisers say remain the most lucrative.
“We need you to join the fight to SECURE OUR ELECTIONS!” reads one Facebook ad.
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Besides fundraising,
Trump has begun renting the massive trove of data that his campaign amassed to other candidates he supports in exchange for a share of their fundraising revenue, according to people familiar with the deal. That could ultimately prove another valuable cash flow for him.
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Among those fundraising for the audit are Voices and Votes, a group founded by One America News network host Christina Bobb, who frequently uses her on-air reports about the audit to encourage viewers to donate.
Byrne, who attended a chaotic Oval Office meeting with Trump in December to discuss ways to overturn the election, founded another group, the America Project, which Byrne said has raised $1.2 million to help pay for the Arizona review. Byrne also told The Washington Post that he personally donated another $500,000. Because the group is not required to disclose information about its donors or spending, it is not possible to corroborate those assertions.
Supporters of a different group — Election Integrity Funds for the American Republic — which has been promoted by Michigan attorney Matthew DePerno — have in recent weeks taken to the social media platform Telegram, popular among Trump allies, to allege that Byrne had not followed through on his funding promises. They pushed allies to donate to their group instead. Byrne has strongly denied those claims.
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Additional details about the financing of the Arizona audit could emerge in coming weeks. Last week, an Arizona judge found that records and correspondence related to Cyber Ninjas, the private contractor hired to conduct the audit, should be considered public documents under state law, including information related to audit funding. The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the group American Oversight.
The litigation is ongoing but in denying a motion by the Senate to dismiss the case, Judge Michael Kemp wrote, “It is difficult to conceive of a case with a more compelling public interest demanding public disclosure and public scrutiny.”
...In Pennsylvania, for instance, state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R), a Trump ally who has repeatedly questioned the election outcome, sent letters on July 7 to three Pennsylvania jurisdictions — the city of Philadelphia, as well as the Republican-leaning counties of York and Tioga — requesting that they turn over to the legislature a long list of voting-related items, including all of their voting machines, tabulators and ballots from the 2020 election.
Citing his role as the chairman of the state Senate’s Intergovernmental Operations Committee, which he wrote has the power to subpoena documents from government agencies, Mastriano told the counties that if they did not provide a plan to comply with his request by July 31, subpoenas could be forthcoming.
State officials have warned that turning over voting equipment could result in counties footing the bill to replace them. York and Tioga counties have already told Mastriano they do not plan to comply voluntarily. Philadelphia has not yet responded.
Mastriano has not said who would pay for the audit if he is able to obtain the information he is seeking from the three localities.
Trump allies have also been seeking an audit in Georgia, though so far unsuccessfully. Activists who have been hoping a judge in Fulton County would order that they be given access to ballots and equipment have so far instead settled for examining computerized images of ballots, which are accessible in Georgia via a public records request.
Garland Favorito, who leads the activist group that brought the lawsuit, has said his effort is being funded entirely by small-dollar donors to his organization, and he has received no other outside funding.
Amy Gardner contributed to this report.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html