25-year-old lures Donald Trump donors into contributing to PAC that has spent $0 on Trump
More than 20,000 donors have contributed almost $350,000 to a Donald Trump super PAC that has spent $0 on Donald Trump, Politico reports. The PAC, operated by 25-year-old Ian Hawes, offers an opportunity to win "Dinner with Donald Trump" but the fine print clarifies that despite appearances, the website isn't run by the Trump campaign and the dinner is actually the PAC buying two tickets "at a Sponsor-selected fundraising evening event held with Donald Trump and other attendees." Donors are encouraged to spend money to increase their chances of winning, but the fine print again says "contributing will not improve chances of winning."
Hawes took advantage of a vacuum left by a skeletal Trump operation that had failed to activate supporters online and protect its digital turf; Hawes noted he bought Facebook ads and solicited money via email before Trump ever did, and created the dinner contest first.He noted Trump's campaign has never contacted them to request they stop using his name, even though the campaign did so to the FEC last fall about some other groups. The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment for this story. [Politico]
Most of the money from donors went to CartSoft LLC, an online payment platform founded and owned by Hawes, which received about $133,000 from the arrangement. Hawes didn't say what his personal cut of that pot was, but added, "I don't want to say the number is zero because that's not true."
"This is robbery," Indiana donor Mary Pat Kulina told Politico upon hearing her donation of $265 did not go directly to the Trump campaign. "I want my money back and I want them to add up what they stole from people and give it to Donald Trump." Read the full report — including how to get your money back if you donated — at Politico.
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