The Trump campaign took $250 million in donations from supporters that it said would go to the Official Election Defense Fund to pay for legal fees for court cases to challenge and overturn the 2020 presidential election results.¹

It was fraud.

The Big Lie Rip-Off was designed to milk as much money from Trump supporters as they possibly could with no regard for the truth.

In fact, the “Official Election Defense Fund” doesn’t even exist. Never has. Never will. Instead here are some highlights of how the $250 million in supporter donated money was spent:²

• $100 million for “various fundraising expenses and advertising efforts aimed at raising even more money”

• $5 million for the company that organized the Jan. 6 rally

• $204,857 to the Trump Hotel Collection

• $60,000 to Kimberly Guilfoyle, the fiancee of Trump's son Donald Trump Jr., to introduce Trump for two-and-a-half minutes at the "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol

According to public record filings, only $13 million of the total was spent on legal expenses related to election cases.³

Almost $100 million in supporter-donated money was transferred to a separate entity called the "Save America" PAC that promotes Trump, pays for his rallies, travel, and expenses, and continues to raise money off of the Big Lie today.⁴

Now the New York Times reports the “Save America” PAC has spent nearly half a million dollars on law firms representing allies subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 Committee, raising serious questions of possible witness tampering and coercion.⁵

The bottom line is simple: When you lie to raise money over the internet, it’s wire fraud. It’s time for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to shut it all down and prosecute the Trump Campaign, the RNC, and the “Save America” PAC with wire fraud.

It wouldn’t be the first time a Trump organization was prosecuted for defrauding supporters.

In 2018, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, once billed as the charitable arm of Trump’s theoretical financial empire, was forced to dissolve and give away all its remaining assets under court supervision by the New York attorney general. The foundation was found to be engaging in “a shocking pattern of illegality.”⁶ In 2016, Trump also settled a fraud case against Trump University for $25 million dollars.⁷

Thousands of hard working people had more than $250 million dollars stolen by an American President in an elaborate fraud scheme exposed by the House Select Committee Investigating the January 6 Attack on the Capitol. Now it’s up to the DOJ to finish the job.

Demand the Department of Justice
Prosecute the Trump Campaign for Wire Fraud over the Big Lie Rip-Off NOW!

¹ Jan. 6 panel: Trump campaign used 'big lie' to raise millions from supporters, Yahoo News
² How Trump, RNC raised hundreds of millions pushing baseless election fraud claims, ABC
³ The Jan. 6 committee says the Trump campaign ripped off donors. But was it illegal?, NPR
⁴ The Jan. 6 panel says the Trump campaign misled donors using election lies, NPR
⁵ Trump Group Pays for Jan. 6 Lawyers, Raising Concerns of Witness Pressure, New York Times
⁶ Trump Foundation Will Dissolve, Accused of ‘Shocking Pattern of Illegality’, New York Times
⁷ Trump settles fraud case against Trump University for $25M, USA Today