“Donald Trump has a big For Sale sign on his campaign. His desperate solicitations to wealthy donors for seven and eight-figure campaign checks in exchange for tax handouts and gutting regulations reeks of impropriety. This pay-to-play scheme violates the spirit and the word of campaign finance laws and opens the door to unfettered corruption.”
Washington Post: Trump makes sweeping promises to donors on audacious fundraising tour
Josh Dawsey
05/28/2024
Key Points:
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When Donald Trump met some of the country’s top donors at a luxurious New York hotel earlier this month, he told the group that a businessman had recently offered $1 million to his presidential effort and wanted to have lunch.
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“I’m not having lunch,” Trump said he responded, according to donors who attended. “You’ve got to make it $25 million.”
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Another businessman, he said, had traditionally given $2 million to $3 million to Republicans. Instead, he said he told the donor that he wanted a $25 million or $50 million contribution or he would not be “very happy.”
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As he closed his pitch at the Pierre Hotel, Trump explained to the group why it was in their interest to cut large checks. If he was not put back in office, taxes would go up for them under President Biden, who vows to let Trump-era tax cuts on the wealthy and corporations expire at the end of 2025.
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Seconds after promising the tax cuts, Trump made his pitch explicit. “So whatever you guys can do, I appreciate it,” he said.
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The remarks are just one example of a series of audacious requests by Trump for big-money contributions in recent months, according to 11 donors, advisers and others close to the former president, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe his fundraising. The pleas for millions in donations come as the presumptive Republican nominee seeks to close a cash gap with Biden and to pay for costly legal bills in his four criminal indictments.
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By frequently tying the fundraising requests within seconds of promises of tax cuts, oil project infrastructure approvals and other favorable policies and asking for sums more than his campaign and the GOP can legally accept from an individual, Trump is also testing the boundaries of federal campaign finance laws, according to legal experts.
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In one recent meeting staged by his Save America super PAC, Trump asked oil industry executives to raise $1 billion for his campaign and said raising such a sum would be a “deal” given how much money they would save if he were reelected as president.
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Larry Noble, a longtime campaign finance lawyer, said Trump was technically allowed to ask only for contributions of $3,300 or less for his campaign, according to federal laws. But he can appear at events for his super PAC where the price of admission is far higher — as long as he doesn’t ask for the money directly.
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“He can’t say, ‘I want you to give me $1 million,’” Noble said.
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Trump has met with an assortment of real estate, legal, finance, oil and other business executives in recent months, according to people familiar with invitation lists. He has often promised agenda items they would like passed as part of his broader fundraising pitch, and sometimes has asked allies to bundle millions or more, according to people close to the former president. Some of the meetings have included tours of his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., and his New York apartment.
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