Mixed Signals
Trump refuses to concede, simultaneously forms a PAC in preparation for life after presidency
President Trump's ongoing fight for victory may be a sign he has finally accepted defeat.
It's been days since President-elect Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election, but Trump is still refusing to concede the election and embarking on a legal battle to challenge votes cast in key states. He's also soliciting donations to cover that legal effort — but that's not exactly where the money is going, The New York Times reports.
Trump's campaign has been bombarding supporters over the past week, begging for donations to his "official election defense fund." "Initially, 60 percent of donations were going to pay off debts that the Trump campaign had accumulated," the Times writes. But 60 percent of those donations are now headed to the Save America PAC, which Trump's campaign treasurer registered with the Federal Election Commission on Monday. The other 40 percent is going to the Republican National Committee. As Brendan M. Fischer, an attorney at the Campaign Legal Center, puts it, "small donors who give thinking they're helping to defend the integrity of our election are in fact largely helping to finance Trump's post-presidential political ventures."
That leadership PAC could come in handy before Trump leaves the White House. Both of Georgia's Senate races are headed for runoffs in early January, and Republicans will need to hold their seats to retain Senate control. And after he's no longer the president, Trump can use the fund for travel, polling, consultants, and donations to other campaigns, helping him "retain influence in a party that has been remade largely in his image over the past four years," the Times reports. It won't, however, be of any help to Trump if he decides to run again in 2024 — something Axios reports he is already considering.