Former president Donald Trump has fundraised more money in the past 6 months than any other former U.S. presidents have to-date.
The Federal Election Commission released a report on the receipts and disbursements of Donald Trump and his political action committees. Axios reported that, “Trump’s affiliated political committees raised nearly $82 million during from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2021, from 3.2 million contributions” and that a representative stated that, “The committees have approximately $102 million cash on hand.”
According to Reuters, only $3 million has been spent. The largest part of that money went “to a pro-trump research center” and over $65,000 went to Trump-owned hotels. The Washington Post added that he has passed at funding the continuing ballot reviews in Arizona and elsewhere.
The former president has allegedly been rallying supporters by claiming that there was widespread election fraud in November 2020, which cost him the election. His fundraising was done through at least three committees, including the Save America [PAC], the Make America Great Again PAC, and a joint PAC which transfers its funds to the other two pacs.
The leadership PACs do have some restrictions, such as $5,000 donation limits and not being able to spend the money on a presidential campaign. All of this comes just weeks after the Trump Organization’s CFO resigned from the trust in charge of the company. There are numerous rumors about whether or not Trump will be running again in 2024, which could be a reason why he is spending so much time fundraising.
Reporter Paul Steinhauser tweeted that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was asked whether Trump would be running again in 2024. He responded, “I just haven’t given these things as much thought [as] the rest of the world seems to give it… President Trump will do his thing… he’ll make his choice… we’ll do our bit.”
Dan K. Eberhart, a Republican and critic of Trump is quoted saying, “To me, the $64,000 question is how much money he’s going to spend on primaries. Is he going to save it for himself, or is he going to go completely nuts on five different House races and spend a tremendous amount of money? […] it seems like he’s going to go all out for his chosen people.”