MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Donald Trump probably filling own pockets with donations to stop vote fraud, says report: 'This is a slush fund'

The fine print of a website raising money for an election defense fund indicated much of the money donated since Election Day has been used to pay down campaign debt

Election watchdogs have warned that the misleading fundraising efforts launched by the Trump campaign, apparently to contest the results of the 2020 election, after President Donald Trump lost the race to President-elect Joe Biden, could go toward financially benefiting the first family. As a result, when supporters of the POTUS pay hundreds of thousands of dollars with the hopes that the campaign will use it to expose the voter-fraud claims that the president has been making without any concrete evidence so far, most of the money could well be going straight into fulfilling the president's personal expenses, a report said.

MEAWW previously reported that the Trump campaign indicated that Trump planned to request for a recount in the battleground state of Wisconsin and is considering legal action in Arizona and Nevada to stop the vote count. Officials also filed a suit in Michigan requesting the state to stop counting ballots until the Trump campaign was allowed access to observe the votes being opened and totaled. If the Trump campaign moves ahead with the court challenges and potential recounts, the suits are expected to cost millions.

Since the Trump camp was at a significant cash disadvantage in the final weeks of the race, refunding the campaign is particularly important if they want to keep fighting to get him reelected this year. As a result, efforts to invite further donations from their supporters began as soon as the president falsely declared victory on election night and said that he was prepared to move to the Supreme Court to file a motion for the end of vote counting in the states where he felt voter fraud existed.

A flurry of emails and text messages with essentially unproven conspiracy theories advocated by the president were reportedly sent out to supporters of Trump. "They will try to steal the Election," one such appeal via email said. Another, which had the subject line "Just like I predicted," contained the message: "I need YOUR HELP to ensure we have the resources to protect the results. We can’t allow the Left-wing MOB to undermine our Election. I’m asking my fiercest and most loyal defenders, like YOU, to FIGHT BACK!" Some of the fundraising emails seemed to be directed from the office of Vice President Mike Pence with the subject line "The President and I need YOU."

Associated Press reported on Thursday, November 12, that the fine print of a website raising money for an “election defense fund” indicated much of the money donated since Election Day has instead been used to pay down campaign debt, replenished the Republican National Committee and, helped Save America, a new political action committee Trump founded. 

“This is a slush fund. That’s the bottom line,” said Paul S Ryan, a longtime campaign finance attorney with the good government group Common Cause. “Trump may just continue to string out this meritless litigation in order to fleece his own supporters of their money and use it in the coming years to pad his own lifestyle while teasing a 2024 candidacy.”

When the report found its way into the social media, most of the users said that they were not surprised by the new information that had come to light because they had expected something like this from Trump. "It’s to fund the attorneys’ fees for his many upcoming indictments," one user said, while another commented, "Always that's the only way he has done things always a big chunk from 10 to 30 percent of the deal." The next commented, "Surprising absolutely no one at all. The con goes on." 

One person remarked, "Someone could contact the local food bank for them." Another quipped, "The marks never know they're the mark!" Someone else said, "While this is true, the money won't last long. It never does in the hands of a Tr*mp." The next commented, "I heard he's talking abt running in 2024 purely to be able to collect 'campaign funds for his businesses and debts.' Not surprising."