Money to aid Trump court fight could flow to president

As President Donald Trump’s chances of reelection dwindled the other day, his campaign commenced blasting out a nonstop stream of emails and text messages that led to a site raising money for an “election defense fund” to contest the results.

Like many hallmarks of the Trump presidency, the messages contained all-caps lettering and blatant mistruths about voter fraud through the Nov 3 election. In addition they mislead supporters about where in fact the money would go.

Trump has promised to contest President-elect Joe Biden’s win in court. But the fine print indicates much of the money donated to support that effort since Election Day has instead reduced campaign debt, replenished the Republican National Committee and, recently, helped get Save America, a fresh political action committee Trump founded, off the ground.

The unusual way the Trump campaign is divvying up the contributions has drawn scrutiny from election watchdogs, who say Trump and his family are poised to financially take advantage of the arrangement.

“That is a slush fund. That’s underneath line,” said Paul S. Ryan, a longtime campaign finance lawyer with the good government group Common Cause. “Trump might just continue steadily to string out this meritless litigation to be able to fleece his own supporters of their money and make utilization of it in the coming years to pad his own lifestyle while teasing a 2024 candidacy.”

The Democratic National Committee and Biden's campaign are also raising money for a legal fight over the outcome of the election. The majority of the money is for the DNC's legal account, though some of it'll be routed to the party's general fund, which doesn't face the same spending restrictions. It might then be used to pay for ads, for instance, if Republicans try to get ballots tossed out with minor - and correctible - errors, according to a DNC official.

Trump's approach is far different.

The first couple of days following the election, money that was purportedly for the legal fight generally went to Trump’s campaign for debt payment, as well as the RNC, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal. But on Monday, Trump launched Save America, his new PAC, which is currently poised to have the largest share oftentimes.

Save America is a type of campaign committee that can often be referred to as a “leadership PAC,” which includes higher contribution limits - $5,000 each year - and faces fewer restrictions about how the amount of money is spent. Unlike prospect campaign accounts, leadership PACs can even be tapped to cover personal expenses.

A detailed break down of how contributions are split up shows that 60% of any donation now would go to Save America PAC. Another 40% would go to an RNC account. It’s only one time a donor reaches the utmost contribution limit for each and every group - $5,000 for Trump’s PAC and $35,000 for the RNC - that money will spill into legal accounts for Trump and the RNC, according to campaign finance attorneys who've reviewed the facts of the arrangement.

In a statement, Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh didn't address questions about how exactly the incoming donations are split.

“The President always planned to do this, win or lose, so he can support prospects and issues he cares about, such as for example combating voter fraud,” Murtaugh said.

A spokesperson for the RNC didn't respond to a request for comment.

Biden spokesperson Andrew Bates said Trump’s fundraising effort was exploitative but not surprising.

“Given the rate of which these lawsuits are being trashed of court one after another, it’s fitting to learn that these were never engineered to succeed in the first place and so are instead the dismal basis for a dog and pony show,” Bates said.

Leadership PACs have long been abused. While they are designed to be utilized for raising money that may later be donated to other candidates, they are able to legally be used to cover lavish - and questionable - expenses.

“They could pay (Trump) children consulting fees. They could pay the children’s significant others consulting fees. They could buy Don Jr.’s book, that your campaign can’t do,” said Adav Noti, a former Federal Election Commission attorney who now works for the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. “They could do anything with it. There’s no personal use restriction.”

(The RNC, not the Trump campaign, did spend almost $100,000 buying copies of Donald Trump Jr.’s book, “Triggered,” last year.)

Trump has refused to acknowledge Biden’s victory and has argued without proof that there is widespread voter fraud which has benefited Biden. He in addition has vowed to fight the results in court. His fundraising messages sought to capitalize on that message.

“THE DEMOCRATS WANT TO STEAL THIS ELECTION! You will have FRAUD like you’ve never seen, plain and simple!” Trump's fundraising homepage reads. “WE ARE IN NEED OF YOUR HELP to ensure we have the resources to safeguard the results and keep fighting even after Election Day. Don’t wait, step up NOW to guard the integrity of our Election!”

There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. Actually, election officials from both political parties have explained publicly that the election went well, and international observers confirmed there have been no serious irregularities.

The problems Trump’s campaign and its own allies have pointed to are typical in every election: problems with signatures, secrecy envelopes and postal marks on mail-in ballots, plus the potential for a little number of ballots miscast or lost. With Biden leading Trump by wide margins in key battleground states, none of these issues would have any impact on the results of the election.

Legal challenges filed by the Trump campaign have complained that their poll watchers were not able to scrutinize the voting process. Many of those challenges have already been tossed out by judges, some within hours of their filing; and again, none of the complaints show any evidence that the results of the election was affected.