WASHINGTON, April 23 (UPI) — Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is disavowing support from a pro-Trump super PAC, saying he wants to continue funding his campaign himself.
Trump has appealed to voters in part because he is using his own fortune to pay for most of his campaign, a fact he regularly reminds voters makes him independent and not beholden to big money donors.
Enter the Great Again PAC, which has raised and spent millions so far in the campaign. The group paid about $1 million to run pro-Trump ads in Wisconsin and was active again in New York’s primary last week.
Trump’s lawyer sent a letter to Great Again PAC, saying they are “using the name, image and slogan of Donald J. Trump in connection with your fundraising activity in a way that is likely to cause confusion.”
“In other words, potential supporters could be easily confused that when they make a contribution to your organization, they are supporting Donald J. Trump for President’s campaign,” wrote Trump lawyer Donald McGahn.
The letter was sent March 23 and reported on Friday.
Trump has not ruled out accepting super PAC money if he wins the nomination. General election campaigns may cost upwards of $1 billion, meaning Trump would have to make a significant personal investment if he wants to continue self-funding.
In addition to raising huge sums of money, many candidates now rely on super PACs to take on some of the traditional duties associated with running a campaign. Great Again said it has begun creating a voter outreach database to identify and contact potential supporters and has recruited volunteers to do it.
Great Again Executive Director Jesse Benton told NBC News last monththe group would not stop its work, even if Trump asked them to, because he believes eventually Trump will want — and need — the help.
“We haven’t gotten a [cease and desist] letter,” Benton said in mid-March. “If we did, we have our constitutional right to our free speech and we’d do what we wanna do. We respect his right to campaign as he sees fit, and we’re going to campaign as we see fit.”
