Trump campaign blasts 'dishonest fundraising groups' after report about top ally
WASHINGTON — President Trump's campaign issued a blistering statement Tuesday condemning "alleged scam groups" that profit off his name days after a new report called into question an outside group run by one of the president's former top campaign hands.
The unsigned statement from the Trump campaign admonished "any organization that deceptively uses the President’s name, likeness, trademarks, or branding and confuses voters."
"There is no excuse for any group, including ones run by people who claim to be part of our ‘coalition,’ to suggest they directly support President Trump’s re-election or any other candidates, when in fact their actions show they are interested in filling their own pockets with money from innocent Americans’ paychecks, and sadly, retirements," the statement said.
While the campaign did not mention any group by name, the comment came days after Axios and the Campaign Legal Center published a report about the Presidential Coalition, a group run by former Trump deputy campaign manager David Bossie.
The analysis found that the Presidential Coalition raised $18.5 million in 2017 and 2018 promoting the group as a stalwart ally of Trump. Just three percent of its spending went to direct political activities, while the lion's share of its spending went toward raising more money, while two organizations linked to Bossie received almost $660,000 from the group.
The Presidential Coalition is far from the first group to have such an unusual spending breakdown. But groups like these have long faced criticism over the years with critics accusing them of being primarily set up to funnel money to preferred vendors and to staff salaries instead of toward the direct political activity that donors may expect their money to fund.
The group denied any allegations of impropriety in a statement to Axios, arguing that the Campaign Legal Center was biased against it because of its work to tighten campaign finance laws and that its spending is necessary to support the group's mission.
"This is fake news brought to you by a collaboration of the biased liberal media and unabashed left-wing activists," the Coalition said in the statement to Axios.