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To: Federal Election Commission (FEC)
Trump is misleading donors & attacking our democracy
President Trump is doing incalculable damage to our democracy with his baseless claims about the 2020 election. And he’s using his frivolous lawsuits to raise money that he’s funneling into a slush fund -- which he can use to pay off himself and his family.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) must ensure that no politician can undermine our democracy for personal profit like Trump has. Commissioners must close the loophole that allows leadership PACs to be used as personal piggy banks.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) must ensure that no politician can undermine our democracy for personal profit like Trump has. Commissioners must close the loophole that allows leadership PACs to be used as personal piggy banks.
Why is this important?
President Trump’s futile post-election power grab is undermining Americans’ faith in our democracy. But did you know that he’s also pulling a bait-and-switch with the money that he’s asking his donors for to fund his lawsuits?
That’s right: Trump is telling donors that he needs their money for legal challenges to the election outcome -- but the fine print tells a completely different story.
Most of the money that he’s raising won’t be deposited into his legal expense fund. In fact, the funds are being split between a new Trump “leadership PAC” called Save America and the Republican National Committee campaign account.
Under the so-called “allocation formula” that Trump is using for this fundraising -- a donor would need to give more than $8,000 before a penny of their money goes into Trump’s legal expense fund.
So the vast majority of donations will instead land in Trump’s new Save America leadership PAC. These kinds of PACs operate with few restrictions under campaign finance law -- and are notoriously used as slush funds by politicians.
Trump will therefore be free to use these funds to pay himself and his family members big salaries and further line his pockets with payments to his businesses after he leaves office.
This kind of for-profit politics would hardly be unprecedented for Trump, whose campaign paid his businesses more than $12 million during his 2016 presidential run -- and who continued to funnel donor money to his own businesses during his 2020 re-election campaign.
Now, the FEC has an obligation to step in -- politicians shouldn’t be able to blatantly mislead their donors for personal profit. Add your name to tell FEC Commissioners: close the loophole that lets power-hungry politicians like Trump use leadership PACs as their own slush fund.
That’s right: Trump is telling donors that he needs their money for legal challenges to the election outcome -- but the fine print tells a completely different story.
Most of the money that he’s raising won’t be deposited into his legal expense fund. In fact, the funds are being split between a new Trump “leadership PAC” called Save America and the Republican National Committee campaign account.
Under the so-called “allocation formula” that Trump is using for this fundraising -- a donor would need to give more than $8,000 before a penny of their money goes into Trump’s legal expense fund.
So the vast majority of donations will instead land in Trump’s new Save America leadership PAC. These kinds of PACs operate with few restrictions under campaign finance law -- and are notoriously used as slush funds by politicians.
Trump will therefore be free to use these funds to pay himself and his family members big salaries and further line his pockets with payments to his businesses after he leaves office.
This kind of for-profit politics would hardly be unprecedented for Trump, whose campaign paid his businesses more than $12 million during his 2016 presidential run -- and who continued to funnel donor money to his own businesses during his 2020 re-election campaign.
Now, the FEC has an obligation to step in -- politicians shouldn’t be able to blatantly mislead their donors for personal profit. Add your name to tell FEC Commissioners: close the loophole that lets power-hungry politicians like Trump use leadership PACs as their own slush fund.