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- While fundraising for the Georgia Senate runoffs, President Donald Trump is diverting 75% of most donations to his Save America political action committee, effectively allowing him to hold onto that money for future endeavors.
- The other 25% goes to the Republican National Committee, meaning the GOP candidates trying to hold on to their seats — Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue — will not see a dollar from Trump’s fundraising push coming to their campaigns.
- A new report from Politico details how Trump is approaching the runoffs in a similar way to how he’s been using the fundraising apparatus for his post-election legal efforts.
- “The reality is Donald Trump does not care about the future of the Republican Party, so if he can raise money off of the Georgia runoffs but keep the money for his own purposes, he will do so,” a longtime GOP strategist told Politico.
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With only a few weeks left in office, President Donald Trump is taking his business instincts to a new fundraising venture for the highly consequential Georgia Senate runoffs, which will decide which party controls the upper chamber.
However, a new report from Politico reveals that 75% of most donations are going toward Trump’s Save America political action committee. The other 25% goes to the Republican National Committee, with the split applying up to the first $5,000 given. That means the campaigns of Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, who are up for election on January 5, aren’t receiving any of this money.
“The reality is Donald Trump does not care about the future of the Republican Party, so if he can raise money off of the Georgia runoffs but keep the money for his own purposes, he will do so,” Doug Heye, a longtime GOP strategist, told Politico’s Alex Isenstadt.
Similar to Trump’s fundraising for post-election legal challenges, the high percentage of donations going to his PAC is only known to donors who read the fine print of the email blasts.
If Trump chooses not to spend heavily in the race from the PAC, that money can be used for future endeavors.
The 75 to 25% split with the runoff donations is emblematic of a larger problem facing the GOP. Trump's outsize influence on the party base means not only that every donation for his fundraising blitz comes at the expense of Loeffler and Perdue, but also that similar conflicts could persist after the president leaves office.
Martha Zoller, who runs the pro-GOP Georgia United Victory PAC, told Politico that Trump's fundraising could help Loeffler and Perdue "if it can get to the right place."
"But if it's going to [Trump's] leadership PAC and not being spent on the behalf of David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler," she continued, "I think that's problematic."