In the final two and a half months of 2020, the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and their shared accounts issued more than 530,000 refunds worth $64.3 million to online donors. The sheer magnitude of the money involved is staggering for politics. I can’t afford to pay all that damn money.” It recurred seven more times - adding up to almost $8,000. “Bandits!” said Victor Amelino, a 78-year-old Californian, who made a $990 online donation to Mr. Soon, banks and credit card companies were inundated with fraud complaints from the president’s own supporters about donations they had not intended to make, sometimes for thousands of dollars. The tactic ensnared scores of unsuspecting Trump loyalists - retirees, military veterans, nurses and even experienced political operatives. ![]() ![]() Eventually its solicitations featured lines of text in bold and capital letters that overwhelmed the opt-out language. It introduced a second prechecked box, known internally as a “money bomb,” that doubled a person’s contribution. Facing a cash crunch and getting badly outspent by the Democrats, the campaign had begun last September to set up recurring donations by default for online donors, for every week until the election.Ĭontributors had to wade through a fine-print disclaimer and manually uncheck a box to opt out.Īs the election neared, the Trump team made that disclaimer increasingly opaque, an investigation by The New York Times showed. “It felt,” Russell said, “like it was a scam.”īut what the Blatts believed was duplicity was actually an intentional scheme to boost revenues by the Trump campaign and the for-profit company that processed its online donations, WinRed. They called their bank and said they thought they were victims of fraud. What the Blatts soon discovered was $3,000 in withdrawals by the Trump campaign in less than 30 days. When his utility and rent payments bounced, he called his brother, Russell, for help. Blatt’s bank account had been depleted and frozen. Another $500 was withdrawn the next day, then $500 the next week and every week through mid-October, without his knowledge - until Mr. But that single contribution - federal records show it was his first ever - quickly multiplied. It was a big sum for a 63-year-old battling cancer and living in Kansas City on less than $1,000 per month. Trump’s campaign needed money when he went online and chipped in everything he could: $500. Since he launched his presidential campaign in 2015, Trump has said he’s under IRS audit and therefore cannot release his tax returns.Stacy Blatt was in hospice care last September listening to Rush Limbaugh’s dire warnings about how badly Donald J. Trump’s office did not immediately release a statement and it’s unclear if he will sue to halt the disclosure. Therefore, the Treasury Department “must comply with the Ways and Means Committee’s Jrequest” for Trump’s tax returns, Johnsen wrote.Ī prior 2019 opinion from the DOJ office said there was no legitimate legislative purpose for Congress to acquire the records. ![]() The decision isn’t necessarily the final word, but if the Treasury Department complies, the records will almost certainly be leaked by Democrats.įor years, Trump’s enemies have sought to embarrass him by exposing the content of his tax returns.Īcting Assistant Attorney General Dawn Johnsen, of the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel, wrote in a memo that the House Ways and Means Committee’s “principal stated objective of assessing the IRS’s presidential audit program” is a “plainly legitimate area for congressional inquiry and possible legislation.” ![]() One-sided social-media censorship: YouTube proves the pointĪ top Justice Department official on Friday told the Treasury Department to give copies of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns to Congress. YouTube restricts video of Dems, critics saying 2016 election was hacked - then backtracks Italy’s election shows us that politics isn’t black and white Emails show how Trump admin asked Navy to keep McCain ship name covered
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