Updates
Trump Campaign Forced To Refund $122 Million To Supporters
According to an investigative report published by the New York Times based on an analysis of Federal Election Commission filings, former President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign issued a staggering $122.7 million in refunds to supporters in 2020, giving back nearly 11 percent of the money it raised.
The reimbursements were made possible in part by a fine-print disclaimer in communications that officials used to continue charging one-time contributors or tripling their donation amounts.
Beginning last summer, Trump’s campaign and WinRed, the company in charge of internet donations, began adding pre-checked recurring payment boxes to online donations. Unless they read the notice, contributors were unaware that they needed to manually uncheck the boxes. If they didn’t read the fine print, donors’ credit cards were charged regularly until the election day.
According to internal statistics, 0.87 percent of WinRed transactions were subject to “formal” credit card complaints, according to Trump spokeswoman Jason Miller. “The fact we had a dispute rate of less than 1% of total donations despite raising more grass-roots money than any campaign in history is remarkable,” Miller added.
Despite Trump’s defeat on November 3, the campaign’s demand for donations did not stop. Trump, without providing evidence, claimed that the election had been rigged and asked his followers to contribute to his efforts to “Stop The Steal.” Trump received $255.4 million in political donations from his supporters in the eight weeks following the 2020 election, according to Federal Election Commission documents filed in January by WinRed. From early November through the day of the Electoral College vote on December 14, Trump and the Republican National Committee raised more than $2 million each day on WinRed. Email solicitations were a critical component of Trump’s financial demands. According to CNN, the former president’s team sent more than 400 emails and 130 text messages soliciting funds in the first 30 days following the election.
Trending:
The news outlet also discovered that, as Election Day approached, the Trump campaign added a second prechecked box that doubled a person’s contribution, as well as new lines of text in bold and capital letters that the paper claimed distracted donors from language informing them how to opt out of the automatic donation plan.
Jason Miller, a Trump spokeswoman, refuted the charges of fraud, telling the paper that internal data revealed that credit card disputes accounted for only.87 percent of transactions.
Victor Amelino, 78, of California, made a $990 gift through WinRed. ‘Bandits!’ he told the NYT. ‘I’m retired. I can’t afford to pay all that damn money.’
In comparison, Biden’s presidential campaign raised $1,044,000,000 and refunded $21 million.
Popular Posts:
- Queen’s damning reply to Prince Harry’s ‘what Meghan wants, Meghan gets’ outburst
- Here’s Why Meghan Markle Cannot File Harry Divorce In US
- Meghan Markle ‘escorted out of Prince Charles’ garden party’ in unearthed video
- Here’s Why Meghan Markle Cannot File Harry Divorce In US
- Prince Harry ‘kept asking for more money’ and Prince Charles got ‘fed up’
- Prince Charles ‘deliberately’ left Meghan out of Archie’s birthday message
- Prince Harry and Meghan ‘blamed staff when they didn’t get their way’
- Prince Harry has been ‘brainwashed’, says biographer
- Meghan Markle blogged about Kate’s wedding before claiming she ‘didn’t know much about royals’
- REVENGE: Beatrice’s pregnancy announcement total dig at Meghan Markle
- Damage is done: Prince Harry warned rift with Prince Charles is widening beyond repair
- Meghan Markle Oprah interview claims debunked by own blog post
- Prince Harry faces Backlash for podcast interview, Duke ‘making too much noise’
- Queen and Charles deeply upset with Harry’s rants
- Harry and Meghan are ‘trolling the world’ with hidden photos Archie, says their biographer
- Prince Harry Demands wife Meghan Markle Be Part Of Princess Diana’s 60th Birthday Tribute Or He Won’t Show
- Harry and Meghan are ‘trolling the world’ with hidden photos Archie, says their biographer
- Meghan Markle’s Plastic Surgery
- Meghan and Harry CAN’T do another bombshell interview – ‘Can only do one’
- How Kate Middleton earned the Queen’s respect
- William and Kate prove they are NOT ‘trapped’ despite Harry claims
- Meghan ‘wasn’t too keen’ on living in smaller place than Kate and William after royal wedding
- Kate Middleton ‘won’t be walked over by Meghan Markle,’ says Jenny Eclair
- Meghan Markle was a ‘failure’ in Hollywood, biographer reveals
- Meghan and Harry are trying to start ‘alternate woke Royal Family,’ Expert says