Small donors may be duped by President Donald Trump’s campaign fundraising efforts which appear on the surface to benefit Republican Senators battling in the all-important Georgia runoffs, but are actually primarily being pocketed by Trump, Politico reported late Monday.
“I need YOU to secure a WIN in Georgia,” one fundraising text message attributed to President Trump said. “Help us WIN both Senate races in Georgia & STOP Socialist Dems,” read another.
While the messages themselves appear to focus on the runoff races in Georgia likely to determine which party holds Senate majority, donors who don’t read the fine print, may think their dollars are going directly to imperiled GOP senators in Georgia, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, when in fact their money is going to Trump.
According to Politico, most of the donations netted through the messages are going toward Trump’s newly launched PAC, which he plans to use to fund his future political endeavors. Only a fraction is going to the Republican National Committee, which is investing $20 million into the runoffs.
A report earlier this month from the Washington Post revealed how Trump used election fraud propaganda to fill his coffers after leaving office in a massive fundraising blitz.
While a number of political heavyweights from both parties are emailing their donors with links to donate directly to the Georgia candidates, President Trump is not among them, Politico notes.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has reached out to the White House and RNC to express its concern, two sources familiar with the discussions told Politico.
When donors click on Trump’s emails and texts, they are directed to a site that encourages small dollar donations from $5 up to $2,800. Text further down on the page stipulates however, that 75 percent of each donation up to $5,000 feeds into Trump’s political action committee, Save America. Only a quarter of the donation goes to the RNC, which paid for Trump’s recent trip to the Peach State in which he largely focused on undermining the state’s election results in the presidential race won by Democrat Joe Biden.
The news comes as Trump has spent the last few weeks tearing down Republican officials who refuse to back up his false claims of election fraud in efforts that could endanger reelection bids in 2022.
A swath of Trump supporters rallying at pro-Trump events in Washington, D.C. on Saturday chanted “Destroy the GOP!”
President Trump flew over the demonstrations that day that made wild claims about how the election had been stolen from him en route to an Army-Navy football game at West Point.
Trump’s effort starkly contrasts that of the Biden campaign’s fight for Georgia’s Democratic Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. The Biden campaign sent out an email last week that asked supporters to give $25 contributions, which it said would be divided evenly between the two candidates and the Democratic National Committee.
