Trump team announces $122 million war chest
By Fredreka Schouten and Gabby Orr, CNN
Former President Donald Trump‘s political organization has amassed $122 million in cash reserves, his team announced Monday. The war chest he has stockpiled is unprecedented for a former President and underscores his financial dominance in Republican politics more than a year after leaving the White House and in the midst of a critical midterm cycle.
Trump’s various political arms raised more than $51 million during the second half of the year, according to a statement from Trump’s Save America political action committee.
“President Donald J. Trump has built a political organization that continues to capture and define the future of the Republican Party,” his spokesman Taylor Budowich said in the statement. “There is no question that the MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN (MAGA!) wave is set to crash across the Midterms and carry forward all the way through 2024.”
Trump’s PAC, Save America, has contributed more than $1.35 million to his favored candidates and causes, according to the statement. Though the former President began doling out endorsements — including to insurgent GOP candidates who are challenging incumbent Republicans — as early as last February, he did not begin spending heavily on candidates and their causes until the second half of 2021.
As the midterm cycle heats up, Trump aides expect him to put his war chest to use on advertisements for candidates he has endorsed and to cover the costs associated with his mega rallies.
Since leaving office, Trump has built a network of campaign committees, including his primary fundraising vehicle, the Save America political action committee, and Make America Great Again, Again!, a super PAC that is run by longtime Trump ally and former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi. It’s not clear which account has the most cash.
More fundraising and spending details are slated to be reported to the Federal Election Commission later Monday.
Earlier in the day, Trump’s Make America Great Again, Again! super PAC filed a report with the federal regulators showing that it has raised around $10 million during the final quarter of 2021. That haul included a $5.725 million transfer from MAGA Action, a now-defunct super PAC that had been run by Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.
The committee spent $476,577 during the same period, the bulk of which went toward operational costs and polling conducted by former Trump campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio. Its spending also included a combined $12,000 in event, catering, and transportation fees at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and golf club in Palm Beach, Florida.
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