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It’s been a bewildering 12 months for anybody following the cleaning soap opera that's Donald Trump’s fundraising teams. The fallout from a sexual assault scandal led to the demise of 1 PAC and the rise of one other as a replacement, with a complicated march of recent names—all a variation on the MAGA theme.
However in the case of the most recent fundraising numbers, followers of this present are in luck: The forged of characters is all too acquainted. From Donald Trump Jr.’s fiance to high White Home officers to the requisite Trump property tithes, it’s all there, proper all the way down to the Jan. 6 organizer now on the month-to-month MAGA dole.
Topline numbers from marketing campaign finance filings submitted Monday present that the one present Trump-endorsed tremendous PAC—the improbably titled “Make America Nice Once more, Once more! Inc“—ended the 12 months with about $9.5 million within the financial institution.
Whereas the tremendous PAC can’t instantly contribute to Trump’s official committees or coordinate with him, it could actually spend that cash to assist and promote his political agenda—together with backing a possible presidential bid, in addition to different candidates he might endorse.
About half of the group’s whole was raised after the aforementioned scandal. That was in early October, when longtime Trump aide Corey Lewandowski was unceremoniously fired, following allegations that he sexually assaulted an enormous donor at a late-September fundraiser.
Lewandowski’s ouster prompted a shakeup, and the torch was handed from his tremendous PAC—Make America Nice Once more Motion—to the newly minted MAGAA! When the facility shifted, so did the cash, with Lewandowski’s outfit transferring $5,725,000 to the brand new group inside days.
However the previous group wasn’t bled dry; it nonetheless holds about $754,000, and it’s unclear what's going to change into of that money.
The fundraising was about on par with the group’s efficiency earlier within the 12 months. Tremendous PACs can settle for donations in limitless quantities, even from corporations, so rich donors flock to those automobiles—comparable to former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), the spouse of the founding father of Jimmy John’s, execs at two main packaging corporations, and the chair of the Fanjul sugar crystal empire.
However there are recent faces, as properly: One of many two high donations—$500,000—got here from an organization referred to as ML Group LLC. Whereas enterprise filings don’t tie the group to anybody, the donor tackle is related to Invoice Pulte, Trump twitter clout-chaser and grandson of the founding father of Pulte Houses. It’s apparently his first donation, per FEC filings.
The spending aspect was tried and true Trumpism.
Maybe probably the most notable presence on the payroll is a Jan. 6 organizer.
Three month-to-month tremendous PAC funds totaling $16,000 went out to Cassidy Kofoed, the 24-year-old daughter of California entrepreneur Richard Kofoed. ProPublica reported in November that Cassidy’s identify appeared on Jan. 6 planning paperwork, and that she labored on occasion preparations with Caroline Wren—a serious GOP fundraiser and buddy of Donald Trump Jr.’s fiance, Kim Guilfoyle. Richard Kofoed had chartered the aircraft that carried Guilfoyle to D.C. for the Jan. 6 occasion, based on the report.
Guilfoyle—the previous fundraising chair for Trump Victory—additionally seems to have entered the revolving door as Lewandowski was flung out. The tremendous PAC lower two checks value a complete $140,000 to KGT International Consulting LLC, a Florida-based entity created in February which company filings tie to at least one Anthony Guilfoyle.
Lewandowski disappears from bills after the incident—however not earlier than cashing a good-looking $83,000 test just some weeks earlier. However even that paycheck wouldn’t have coated the greater than $90,000 in authorized charges the PAC paid out within the days after the alleged assault.
Different authorized charges went out to Elections LLC, a agency co-founded by key Trump 2020 marketing campaign staffer Justin Clark.
One other acquainted identify was Lewandowski’s substitute on the high: former Florida lawyer basic Pam Bondi—a MAGAland fixture who additionally holds a high job on the Trump-aligned America First Coverage Institute darkish cash group. Bondi pocketed greater than $150,000 from the tremendous PAC over the past 4 months of the 12 months.
One other AFPI staffer seems to be pulling double obligation—Trump’s former appearing Lawyer Normal Matt Whitaker, now co-chair of the AFPI Middle for Regulation and Justice, took dwelling $7,880 on the finish of December. And one other former appearing official—director of nationwide intelligence Ric Grennell—received the same sized MAGAA! paycheck the identical day.
However whereas the payees are acquainted, the fee construction is new—and strange.
The tremendous PAC’s submitting reveals that all the above names, except Guilfoyle, have been getting paid by way of a beforehand unreported nonprofit, referred to as Make America Nice Once more Insurance policies.
The group was created by Lewandowski final June, and it claims to have a “cost-sharing” association with the tremendous PAC. The explanation for the layered fee construction will not be instantly clear.
And the ultimate throwback—Trump himself received a lower.
Federal legislation prohibits candidates from coordinating with tremendous PACs, however Trump has no compunctions about pushing that line, going as far as to endorse MAGAA! as the one “official” Trump tremendous PAC.
And in Trump fashion, the tremendous PAC held an occasion in December at Trump Worldwide Golf Membership in Palm Seashore, shelling out greater than $10,000, with an additional $900 going to the Trump Nationwide Transportation Service. The December occasion put a cap on a tumultuous fundraising 12 months that started at Trump’s Bedminster, NJ, membership.