‘We’ve Kind of Wound Down’
The Donald Trump campaign has shut down its active high-dollar fundraising operation. While Hillary Clinton continues to attend fundraisers and work to promote Democrats across the country, since last week Trump has decided to not attend any more fundraisers and is not actively working to help Republicans get elected.
The Washington Post, which first reported the news, calls it “a highly unusual move that deals another serious blow to the GOP’s effort to finance its get-out-the-vote operation before Election Day.”
Just hours before the final presidential debate, Trump Victory, the “joint fundraising committee between the party and the campaign, held its last formal fundraiser,” the Post adds.
“We’ve kind of wound down,” Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s national finance chairman, told the Post. “But the online fundraising continues to be strong.”
Trump had promised voters and the RNC he would be donating $100 million to finance his campaign. The Post reports he still needs to come up with another $44 million.
While the end of his fundraising operation likely wont have a huge impact on Trump’s campaign efforts, it will on down-ballow GOP candidates. 20 percent of funds raised via Trump Victory are supposed to help fund their campaigns.
The above Wall Street Journal video from May explains the Trump fundraising operation and notes that it put an end to Trump’s claim that he would be self-funding his campaign.
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Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license