The Independent reports:
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign raised $250 million from supporters by telling them the money would be used to fight voter fraud, but the campaign knew those claims of fraud were bogus and instead diverted the money to his own political organisation, the House committee investigating the January 6 attacked claimed on Monday.
Mr Trump’s campaign sent millions of fundraising emails to supporters encouraging them to donate to help fight voter fraud between election day and January 6, the committee said. Many of those emails asked supporters to donate to an “election defense fund” for legal cases related to the election.
However, an investigator for the committee said that fund did not exist, and most of that money went Mr Trump’s ‘Save America’ political action committee, not to election-related litigation.
Bloomberg News reports:
The committee played video testimony from Amanda Wick, a senior investigative counsel, outlining how Trump and his allies raised $250 million with as many as 25 email solicitations a day to supporters seeking money to fight election fraud — including almost $100 million in the first week after the election – even though they knew the claims were false and the money was often used for other purposes.
“We found evidence that the Trump campaign and its surrogates misled donors as to where their funds would go and what they would be used for,” Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren said. “So not only was there the big lie, there was the big ripoff.”
Wow! The Jan 6 committee exposes how the Big Lie was also the Big Grift. Trump fundraised for an ‘Election Defense Fund’ that didn’t exist, raised more than $250 million, and never used it to pursue his claims about the election. pic.twitter.com/BsGtIrmLaF
— MeidasTouch.com (@MeidasTouch) June 13, 2022
The House Jan. 6 committee said former President Trump and his allies raised $250 million in the weeks after the election, some of which was ostensibly for an “Official Election Defense Fund” — which the committee found did not exist. https://t.co/90ztFwCG8G
— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) June 13, 2022
So Trump raised $250 million for post-election “defense fund,” he spent $7.2 million (including $200,000 on his own hotels), and where did the rest go? pic.twitter.com/SOUFCG8B90
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) June 13, 2022
Lofgren closes with a video claiming the Trump Official Election Defense Fund didn’t actually exist. It was all a grift. pic.twitter.com/kb7tHbTZ1f
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 13, 2022