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Politics|Trump Raised $56 Million Online in First Half of 2021
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/31/us/politics/trump-donations.html
The former president raised far more money online than any other Republican, federal records show, and more than each of the three main fund-raising arms of the Republican Party itself.
July 31, 2021, 12:07 a.m. ET
Despite departing from office and being barred from the leading social media platforms, former President Donald J. Trump was the Republican Party’s most dominant fund-raiser in the early months of 2021, as committees affiliated with him collected more than $56 million online, according to campaign filings made late Friday.
Mr. Trump raised far more money than any other Republican via WinRed, the party’s main processing site for online donations, federal records show, and more than each of the three main fund-raising arms of the Republican Party itself.
The next strongest online fund-raiser among Republican politicians was Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who delivered the G.O.P. response to President Biden’s first address to Congress in the spring. Mr. Scott raised $7.8 million online.
All told, Mr. Trump collected $34.3 million through a shared account with the Republican National Committee, which is known as the Trump Make America Great Again Committee; Mr. Trump’s political action committee received 75 percent of what went into the shared account, and the party received 25 percent.
In addition, Mr. Trump raised more than $21 million directly into two new political action committees that he controls.
The new online fund-raising data comes from the federal filings of WinRed. The full federal reports for Mr. Trump’s accounts in the first six months of 2021 are due on Saturday.
Much of the money raised by the Trump Make America Great Again Committee came through Mr. Trump’s recurring donation program, which guided countless supporters into unwittingly making repeat donations through the use of prechecked boxes.
A New York Times investigation this year showed how the program spurred a wave of fraud complaints and demands for refunds, which continued into 2021.
Mr. Trump’s fund-raising slowed over the course of the first six months of the year. In January, the month of the Capitol riot and his subsequent impeachment in the waning days of his presidency, Mr. Trump raised $13.8 million that went into the Trump Make America Great Again Committee.
By June, that sum had shrunk, though it was still a robust $2.6 million, almost entirely through recurring donations. As of July, party officials had stopped the withdrawals, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the party’s internal financial dealings.
English (US) ·