Former United States President Donald Trump allegedly used more than $1 million in donor funds to pay for his private businesses in 2021 after losing the 2020 elections.
The Republican businessman's companies continued to charge his political outfits for goods and services, based on a review of the latest federal filings. In the months following Trump's election loss, much of the money was via the former president's official campaign committee, Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.
Donald Trump's Donor Funds
The committee paid $38,000 on Dec. 1, 2020, in rent to Trump Tower Commercial LLC, the entity through which Trump owns space inside the Trump Tower. Two weeks later, another $38,000 in payment was made for rent, coming from the campaign committee to that same LLC.
Furthermore, the committee made two payments of $3,000 at roughly the same time to an entity named Trump Restaurants LLC. Trump, who is estimated to have a net worth of $3 billion, also has complete ownership of that company based on an analysis of documents his business submitted to federal and local officials during his presidency, as per Forbes.
From the election until the end of 2020, the former president's campaign committee handed over $113,000 to his businesses. In the following year, the Republican businessman did not shut down his campaign committee.
Instead, he chose to rename it, turning it into the Make America Great Again PAC, which, on Jan. 4, 2021, began to funnel money to the Trump Organization, handing over $8,000 to the Trump Hotel Collection by the end of the first month.
According to Politico, the situation comes as some Trump donors are slowly taking notice of the former president's steady downfall. In interviews, they described a GOP electorate still enamored with Trump and dismissive of the House Select Committee and its findings.
Former President Donald Trump's Difficulties
A Republican donor, Dan Eberhart, said that Trump is now facing an important onslaught of negative facts with the committee's hearings, arguing that there was no real defense for the former president. He said Trump has no friendly members on the panel and there are no facts to put in front of the public to prevent the findings from becoming worse for him.
Despite Eberhart suspecting that the hearings were only strengthening the loyalty of Trump's core supporters, the Republican businessman's potential opponents were benefiting as well. He noted that Ron DeSantis was lying in wait, sharpening his knives, and waiting for his opportunity to strike.
The Florida governor's advisers do not see the Jan. 6 hearings as a "nail in the coffin" for Trump, but rather just another in a line of distractions. They argue that these are exhausting the sort of top-line Republican money that could become influential to a potential 2024 Trump-DeSantis primary clash.
With regards to Trump's alleged use of donor money, the House Select Committee's investigation called it the "Big Rip Off." The panel said that Trump's campaign took $250 million in donations from supporters that were said to go to an election defense fund but were instead sent to the Save America political action committee, NPR reported.
Related Article: US Capitol Riot Poll: More Americans Think Donald Trump Should Be Punished for Jan. 6 Attack
