By tying donation requests to pledges of tax cuts and other policies, Trump is testing the boundaries of federal campaign finance laws.
“I’m not having lunch [with a donor who gave $1 million],” Trump said he responded, according to donors who attended. “You’ve got to make it $25 million.”
Another businessman, he said, had traditionally given $2 million to $3 million to Republicans. Instead, he said he told the donor that he wanted a $25 million or $50 million contribution or he would not be “very happy.”
Trump has met with an assortment of real estate, legal, finance, oil and other business executives in recent months, according to people familiar with invitation lists.
By frequently tying the fundraising requests within seconds of promises of tax cuts, oil project infrastructure approvals and other favorable policies and asking for sums more than his campaign and the GOP can legally accept from an individual, Trump is also testing the boundaries of federal campaign finance laws, according to legal experts.
The former president was once reluctant to call donors and decried the role of big money in politics. Part of his opposition to making calls was that he liked the perception that he was an outsider who was going to “drain the swamp.”
“I will say this — [the] people [who] control special interests, lobbyists, donors, they make large contributions to politicians and they have total control over those politicians,” Trump said during a 2016 debate. “And frankly, I know the system better than anybody else, and I’m the only one up here that’s going to be able to fix that system, because that system is wrong.”
[So much for that.]
At the fundraiser, he promised to cut taxes on corporations and give oil executives an array of policies they wanted and said he was being outraised by the Democrats and the unions, asking the crowd to “be generous, please.”
“So give me some of your money,” he said, drawing laughs. “True. I’m begging for your money.”
