Once a Grifter, Always a Grifter
FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | December 3, 2020
“Trump can use his tens of millions of leadership PAC dollars for anything he wants.”
President Trump likes to use superlatives about everything he does, and they are invariably false claims. In the case of his current fundraising, however, he is entitled to a true superlative: Trump is the greatest campaign finance grifter in modern history.
According to recent reports, Trump has raised $170 million since the election, allegedly for an “Election Defense Fund,” theoretically to pay for his frivolous lawsuits challenging the presidential election results. In reality, 75 percent of the money he is raising is not going to legal expenses at all, but rather is going to Trump’s new leadership PAC.
Many reports have focused on the idea that Trump is raising this money to spend on his future political activities – a typical use of leadership PACs by Members of Congress.
But there’s a major loophole in the prohibition on converting contributions to personal use when it comes to leadership PACs, and there’s the rub:
Because the FEC has misinterpreted the campaign finance laws, there are no enforceable restrictions on converting these contributions to personal use, as long as you pay income tax on the money. Trump can use this money to buy a house, a car, a plane. He can use the money for his living expenses.
Trump can use his tens of millions of leadership PAC dollars for anything he wants.
Trump has already established his grifter track record by using the Trump Foundation’s money for numerous impermissible purposes.
In an IRS filing for the tax year 2015, the Trump Foundation admitted to violating the ban on self-dealing, which “bars nonprofit leaders from using their charity’s money to help themselves, their businesses or their families.”
In 2018, under pressure from an investigation and lawsuit brought by the New York Attorney General, the Trump Foundation agreed to dissolve. The Attorney General accused the Foundation of “functioning as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political interests,” and of engaging in “a shocking pattern of illegality.”
In the case of his new leadership PAC, Trump can grab the great bulk of the contributions he is raising under the guise of supporting the expenses of his bogus lawsuits and use the money to support his lifestyle without any concern that any enforcement action will be taken against him.
This latest Trump scam appears to be a key reason why Trump’s losing lawsuits keep coming, as they allow Trump to keep raising money under false pretenses.
Once a grifter, always a grifter.
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