The list of Donald Trump’s legal issues is astounding. For one, the Republican figurehead is currently under criminal investigation for bringing highly confidential classified information to his country club and then refusing to return it.
Then we have Trump’s involvement in the attack on January 6 and the broader attempt to rig the American presidential election, both criminal and civil claims.
Numerous fraud investigations are also ongoing against the previous president’s company. In Georgia, a criminal inquiry into his attempts to tamper with election results is also still active. In connection with his special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) from the Truth Social fiasco, there appears to be a criminal inquiry.
Now a federal grand jury is currently looking into the creation and expenditure of Trump’s super PAC, according to the NYTimes.
The Justice Department is interested in learning more about the inner workings of Save America PAC, which served as Mr. Trump’s primary post-election fundraising vehicle, according to subpoenas issued by the grand jury, the details of which were reported to The New York Times. On Wednesday, similar subpoenas were issued to a number of junior and midlevel staff members who worked for the White House and Mr. Trump’s campaign.
The NY Times said that a grand jury presumably issued the latest subpoenas independently of the grand jury that was convened on January 6. According to the article’s conclusion, “At least one of the fresh subpoenas had the name of an experienced federal prosecutor in Washington who specializes in fraud cases, indicating that this line of inquiry is dedicated primarily to looking into the expenditures and fundraising at Mr. Trump’s super PAC.”
Although the investigation’s specifics are unknown, there is enough information to find it’s likely federal investigators are looking at the former president’s post-victory fundraising.
In December 2020, Trump’s campaign spread a deluge of untruths about the results, informing unwary donors that their contributions would be used to challenge the election results that the president-elect had falsely claimed were invalid. At least inasmuch as they were able to raise a sizable sum of money, the pitches were very successful.
The money donated by supporters wasn’t being used for fruitless audits, worthless litigation, or pointless recounts, which was the latest in a string of Trump scams. Instead, the Save America PAC received a large portion of the funds, which campaign finance experts scorn as “basically a form of slush fund, with little constraints on how the money they raise can be spent.”
Things worsened after Trump departed the White House because he continued to misrepresent the election, which encouraged his supporters to keep giving money. We need you to join the fight to SECURE OUR ELECTIONS!, read one appeal last year, yet none of the millions of money raised by Save America went toward any such initiatives.
This gained additional significance a few months ago when Team Trump’s “Official Election Defense Fund” was brought up during a public hearing held by the House select committee looking into the attack on January 6.
The bipartisan congressional committee heard testimony from a former Trump campaign employee who said, “I don’t believe there is genuinely a fund named the ‘Election Defense Fund’.” The former president’s super PAC received the lion’s share of the funding.
The degree to which this was a scam wrapped in a scam contributed to how startling it was. Trump began by lying about the legitimacy of the election results before adding another lie by urging those who bought into the first one to grab their wallets and donate to an organization called the Election Defense Fund, which had nothing to do with defending elections.
Additionally, it produced a bizarre set of incentives: When the Republican started telling the truth, his donors stopped giving him money, which unsurprisingly pushed Trump to continue the scam.