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Trump raffles a meeting against donations: does not award a winner, often pocket the money himself
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By Savannah Pleil
New Orleans (USA) – Donald Trump (76) asked his supporters to donate money to his political action committee in at least 15 emails over the past few weeks. In return, a prize was to be raffled among all donors, but there was neither a winner nor a meeting. This isn’t the first time the Action Committee, which hands out big bucks to Trump and his friends, hasn’t announced winners.
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Donald Trump’s (76) political action committee often raises money with promises of meetings with the former president. © Evan Vucci/AP/dpa
“ANY AMOUNT OF MONEY DONATED NOW automatically counts as a ticket to win dinner with President Trump in New Orleans,” said one of at least 15 emails promising small donors a donation to win a meeting with Trump to be able to
Another email promised a luxurious trip: “We’ll pay for your flight. We’ll pay for a very nice hotel. We’ll pay for your dinner.”
A third email assured that Donald Trump himself had reserved a ticket for the donor.
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But last Saturday, none of his fans had dinner with the former president, an inside source said Washington Post.
None of the people who donated money to the campaign got paid for a flight or a “very nice hotel.”
Instead, Trump met with wealthy, well-known Republican Party financiers for dinner, where he posed for photos with them and collected large sums of money of several thousand euros each.
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Allegedly due to “administrative error” no winner drawn
Save America raises a lot of money from Trump’s supporters with various campaigns. © Evan Vucci/AP/dpa
Similar calls for donations with raffles have brought in several hundred thousand US dollars for Trump’s political action committee “Save America”.
Trump is not allowed to use the money raised by this committee for an election campaign himself, but can redistribute it to other candidates.
A spokesman for the organization stated on request that the missing winner was only due to an organizational error.
Save America would soon reportedly select a winner and award a prize of “equal or greater value.”
This isn’t the first time that no clear winners have been identified in such a campaign.
Attorney Renato Mariotti said attendees could sue the Action Committee over the lack of a prize, but that it was very unlikely Trump supporters would do so.
You would also need to be able to show that Save America never intended to pick a winner. If there was a mistake, the committee would not be liable to prosecution.
Even if Save America or the former president could be proven guilty, it would be unlikely that any action would be taken against them.
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Trump distributes donated money to himself, former employees and friends
Trump’s Political Action Committee distributes large amounts of money to himself, his friends, and former employees. © Meg Kinnard/AP/dpa
In more than 40 cases reported to the Federal Elections Commission against Trump or any of his political committees, not a single one was pursued.
Trump owes this in large part to the three Republicans on the six-member commission, who always voted for him when the doubt came up. A majority of four votes is required to proceed with a case.
Save America is one of the largest Republican action committees in the United States. According to official figures, the committee raised $51 million from July to December last year, but distributed only a fraction, $1.5 million, to various candidates .
A million of that was donated to a non-profit organization where a friend of Trump’s is a partner. $100,000 was spent on renting Trump properties.
As of January this year, Save America’s net worth was $122 million. Only $350,000 (€318,689) was donated at the time. The same documents showed that Trump distributed money to his own companies and to his former employees.
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Title photo: Evan Vucci / AP / dpa
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