This person declined to be named in order to speak freely. "This is grassroots, true believers," he added.Ī former senior campaign official told CNBC on the condition of anonymity that big-money donors that hadn't yet given to the cause had shied away by the end of the campaign because the president wasn't taking part in certain in-person events because of the coronavirus pandemic and some executives wouldn't attend if he wasn't there. "Only the crazies still believe," Eberhart told CNBC when discussing who is still giving to Trump. By Election Day, a Real Clear Politics national polling average had Biden up by seven points. Trump donor Dan Eberhart told CNBC that many Republican business leaders were not interested in investing in a candidate that had flailing public poll numbers in the final weeks of the election or his next moves in politics. Representatives for the Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment. "We enjoy unprecedented financial support from an ever-growing group of investors, large and small, because President Trump and Republicans continue to fight on the issues that a majority of Americans care about, most notably ensuring the integrity of our elections and defending the Republican majority in the Senate," Cassie Smedile, RNC deputy communications director, said in a statement.
The fine print on the Trump election defense fund donation page says that "75% of each contribution first to Save America, up to $5,000," suggesting that a majority of contributions to the legal matter actually go to Trump's committee for other purposes. The Trump campaign requested a partial recount in Wisconsin, for which it paid $3 million.īut Reuters reported last month that large chunks of contributions are, in fact, not going toward efforts to overturn the election results and instead are going to Save America or the Republican National Committee. The firm was founded by longtime Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz. The campaign spent millions on legal fees linked to the "recount," filings say, including $600,000 that went toward the law firm Kasowitz Benson Torres. Trump and his allies have lost or withdrawn essentially every court case related to the election, failing to invalidate any votes for Biden.Īttorney General William Barr this week said that the Justice Department has found no evidence of widespread ballot fraud, much less any fraud that would overturn Biden's projected victory.
3, the Trump campaign has initiated dozens of legal fights in states where Biden has been deemed the winner, including in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia. Schwarzman said in late November that, after supporting the president for the past four years, he's now ready to move on to "help President-elect Biden and his team as they confront the significant challenges of rebuilding our post-Covid economy." Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.Īs CNBC reported, Schwarzman was one of the many Wall Street executives who walked away from helping Trump in the final stretch of the election. Instead, he gave $15 million in November to the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Sen. Steve Schwarzman, the CEO of private equity behemoth Blackstone, and a longtime Trump confidant, did not contribute to any pro-Trump groups in recent weeks, according to election filings. Trump's fraud pitch, while apparently not moving many business leaders, appears to be resonating with small-dollar donors, who may be convinced that their money is going expressly to the fraud fight, and likely provided much of the money raised in the period. Save America will likely be used to fund any political initiatives Trump is planning after he leaves the White House, including possibly running for president again in 2024. The Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee, his two joint fundraising committees and the president's leadership committee, Save America, raised over $200 million since Election Day. In the case of the legal fight, some of the leading party donors had previously maxed out to the campaign and Republican National Committee, leaving Trump's political team unable to turn to them for financial assistance. It's the latest sign that many executives could be ready to work with President-elect Biden. 23, show that wealthy GOP financiers largely did not help Trump in the final weeks of the bruising battle with Biden as he dropped in the polls or parachute in millions toward his current legal fight. However, new Federal Election Commission records, tracking fundraising from Oct.
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