results.[157] But there was no "Official Election Defense Fund"—it was simply "a marketing tactic."[158] The TMAGAC fundraisers did not know where the donated money was actually going.[159] The TMAGAC copywriting team simply took the lies that President Trump told them about the need to raise money to overturn the election results and put them into emails to his supporters.
The false claims of election fraud and the "Official Election Defense Fund" were so successful President Trump and his allies raised more than $250 million after the election.[160] However, the Trump Campaign was raising too much money to spend solely on their legal efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The Trump Campaign continued to publicly state the election had been stolen by "the Left," while behind closed doors they prepared a new plan to spend their supporters' money.
A. The Creation of the Save America PAC
On November 9, 2020, President Trump created a separate leadership PAC called Save America that allowed him to keep millions of dollars raised after the election and spend it with very few restrictions in the future. Jared Kushner worked with Alex Cannon, Deputy General Counsel for the Trump Campaign, in creating the entity.[161] Prior to the formation of Save America, any money raised by the Trump Campaign could effectively only be spent on recount and election-contest related expenses, and to pay off campaign debt.[162] But now the money raised into Save America could allow President Trump to pay for his personal expenses, such as travel or hotel stays. After Save America was formed, it was added to the TMAGAC joint fundraising agreement with the RNC, and the percentage of the proceeds allocated to the Trump Campaign began to flow to Save America.[163]
Importantly, Save America, as a leadership PAC, was not even legally permitted to pay for recount and election-contest related expenses in excess of the Federal Election Campaign Act ("FECA") limit of $5,000.[164] Save America never hit that limit in 2020, as it spent no money on recount and election-contest related expenses.[165]
Several reporters noticed the switch and contacted the Campaign asking about the "bait and switch" and the "misleading" nature of the emails. One reporter said directly: "it's misleading to raise money for a committee marked on the website as an 'election defense fund' if it's going to a leadership PAC."[166] Another reporter asked, "Why is the campaign telling its supporters they are contributing toward an 'Election Defense Fund' if only a small percentage of those funds are actually going toward funding legal efforts?" and "How can the campaign justify directing 75% of contributions intended for a 2020 legal fund toward the President's political action committee?"[167]
