Fundraising
ramping up its program for bundlers of midsize donations and planning to conserve cash by holding fewer rallies than they did at the end of the primary season.
On Thursday, Trump formed a new joint fundraising account with the national party and roughly 40 state parties, calling it the Trump 47 Committee, allowing him to directly raise money in chunks of more than $800,000. A splashy dinner in Palm Beach is being planned in early April to fill the new account’s coffers. One person familiar with the planning said donors have pledged more than $25 million.
Trump is said to be concerned about the fundraising gap between his orbit and Biden’s, although he has told advisers that he believes he and his allies will ultimately raise what they need, according to one person with knowledge of the discussions.
But some top donors remain hesitant.
Among their privately expressed concerns is a fear that large donations could wind up covering Trump’s legal fees, even as his advisers have publicly said the RNC won’t do so.
Trump’s main super PAC has, as of January, refunded more than $47 million of the $60 million it had received before the 2024 run began to Trump’s PAC, which is paying Trump’s lawyers.
So far, Trump has reported only a limited well of major contributors during the 2024 race. He has, in the meantime, become increasingly attentive to them.
He recently had a meeting with one of the world’s richest men, Elon Musk, and a brief backstage encounter with Jeff Yass, a billionaire investor in TikTok. Trump said on CNBC that he and Yass had not spoken about the company, although he later posted on social media regarding his skepticism about federal legislation that could ban the app, especially if it would benefit the parent company of Facebook.
On Super Tuesday, Trump’s main super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., rented out a room at Mar-a-Lago for some of the larger donors to mingle in. Trump stopped by and thanked some of them, including Trish Duggan, a prominent Florida philanthropist and
“Can I just have a moment to be sad over Nikki not being in the race?”
Scientologist, who has contributed more than $5 million, according to a person who was in the room.
The night he won the New Hampshire primary, Trump gave shout-outs in his victory speech to casino magnate Steve Wynn and hedge fund manager John Paulson, both of whom are billionaires.
“You know what? Put him at Treasury,” Trump said of Paulson that night. The April fundraising dinner, which was first reported by Bloomberg, will be hosted by Paulson.
On the night of the South Carolina primary, Woody Johnson, the billionaire owner of the New York Jets to whom Trump gave an ambassadorship during his term, stood behind Trump.
Another billionaire and regular at Mar-a-Lago, Ike Perlmutter, is supporting a separate super PAC, Right for America, that is being run by Trump ally Sergio Gor. Trump blessed Perlmutter’s effort, despite the fact that its existence has caused tension within the broader Trump circle.
The general election cash chasm was apparent in the advertising announced in March.
The main Trump super PAC has purchased about $380,000 in radio advertising targeting Black voters in three states this month.
The Biden campaign has announced a $30 million ad campaign over six weeks — a nearly 100 to 1 edge in the first stretch of the race.
That ratio does not include the roughly $500,000 the pro-Trump super PAC spent on an ad that trolled Biden the day of his State of the Union speech, questioning whether the president would live to 2029, when his second term would end.
The provocative commercial exemplifies what underfunded groups typically do: spend symbolically to generate free media coverage.
Some Republican donors have emphasized that wealthy contributors may write large checks, but they often don’t want to see that fact disclosed, given the controversy that attaches itself to Trump. A number of donors faced public blowback in 2016 for their support.
An official with the Trump super PAC would not say whether Yass has given money to the group, but a person close to the campaign said he is expected to make a seven-figure contribution. It’s unclear if that would be to a super PAC or a dark money group that does not have to identify its donors.
After Musk’s meeting with Trump was reported, Musk wrote, “I am not donating money to either candidate for US President.” But should he choose to donate, Musk, too, could decide to give to an entity in which the money cannot be tracked.
Not everyone is on board just yet. “Can I just have a moment to be sad over Nikki not being in the race?” hedge fund executive and GOP financier Ken Griffin said at a conference in Florida this past week, referring to Trump’s last major Republican rival, Nikki Haley. But Griffin predicted that Trump would win this fall and left open the possibility of backing him.
The current financial situation is a reversal of the one in 2020.
Back then, it was Trump who held the White House and had amassed a $187 million advantage by roughly this same point, creating a far larger gap than Biden has built now. But spending decisions by the Trump team and a deluge of Democratic giving inverted that by the fall.
The Republican National Committee announced that last weekend — the first since Michael Whatley was installed as chair, and Lara Trump as cochair — was its strongest for a fundraising weekend since 2020. Lara Trump said on Fox News that she had personally received pledges of $2.7 million.
And a Trump campaign spokesperson said that February had been its strongest month for small dollar fundraising of the race. Records show the previous high for online fundraising was in August, when Trump raised $22.3 million.
Still, Democratic donors have been pouring money into Biden’s coffers. The Biden campaign announced it had raised more than $10 million online in the 24 hours after the State of the Union address.
To put that sum in perspective, it more than doubled the biggest day Trump had in 2023, when his mug shot was released from his Georgia indictment, and he raised $4.2 million online.
Feeling lucky? Mega Millions jackpot soars to $875 million
FORT LAUDERDALE – If you’re feeling some St. Patrick’s Day magic, you might want to buy a lottery ticket. Mega Millions and Powerball have racked up some massive jackpots after weeks of rollovers.
The Mega Ball jackpot is already estimated at a whopping $875 million for Tuesday night’s drawing after no tickets matched all six numbers drawn on Friday night.
The odds of winning any lottery jackpot are very slim. Mega Millions players have a 1 in 302.6 million chance of taking home the top prize.
This is just the sixth time in the nearly 22-year history of the Mega Millions game that the jackpot has been this large – and five of those six jackpots exceeded $1 billion, according to a Mega Millions statement. Those winning tickets were sold in South Carolina, Michigan, Illinois, Maine and Florida.
There was one big winner in Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing. A ticket in New York matched all five white balls drawn Friday night and will win $1 million.
DA declines to file charges against NYC subway shooter
After a shooting on a subway in downtown Brooklyn sent New York City commuters fleeing for safety, prosecutors said no charges have been filed against the gunman, citing evidence he was trying to protect himself.
“Yesterday’s shooting inside a crowded subway car was shocking and deeply upsetting,’ said Oren Yaniv, spokesman for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. “The investigation into this tragic incident is ongoing but, at this stage, evidence of self-defense precludes us from filing any criminal charges against the shooter.”
A 36-year-old man was shot multiple times, including in the head, after a man whom he threatened with a gun took it and used it against him, according to the New York City Police Department. The shooting occurred after a confrontation had unfolded between on a busy train during the Thursday evening rush hour.
— Wire reports