(PresidentialInsider.com)- Donald Trump hasn’t officially announced whether he’ll be running for president in 2024, but one super PAC aligned with Democrats believes he’s already violated federal campaign finance laws.
American Bridge, the super PAC in question, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Monday that accused the former president of “illegally using his multi-candidate leadership PAC to raise and spend funds in excess of Commission limits for the purpose of advancing a 2024 presidential campaign.”
Included in those claims are “payments for events at Trump properties, rallies featuring Mr. Trump, consulting payments to former Trump campaign staff and digital advertising about Mr. Trump’s events and his presumptive 2024 opponent.”
Trump has certainly alluded that he might run for president in 2024, but he hasn’t made his intentions publicly known yet. In fact, he has said many times in the past that he would hold back from making a public announcement on whether he’ll run again until after the midterm elections are held later this year.
But, American Bridge is claiming that he has already mentioned in private to many people that he indeed will mount a campaign for president in two years. Because of that, the super PAC says he would’ve ben obligated to file a candidacy intent 15 days within making an expenditure or receive a contribution that totaled more than $5,000.
In other words, the super PAC is claiming that Trump is using his political leadership PAC to raise money that he is using in some ways to promote his eventual run for president.
On Monday, American Bridge said:
“Trump has played footsie with the Federal Election Campaign Act for months.”
They added that he’s spent more than $100,000 every week purchasing ads on Facebook through the Save America PAC, and that he “has consistently raised more than $1 million per week — a clear violation of campaign finance law and precedent established by the Federal Election Commission.”
The group is then asking that Trump be fined “the maximum amount permitted by law,” and require him to also disclose all of his expenditures.
A spokesperson for the former president, Taylor Budowich, responded by saying the group’s claims are without merit. He accused the group, and other Democrats, of using “cheap gimmicks” to try to stop Trump.
Budowich continued:
“Our country is spiraling into disaster because of the Democrats’ failures, and instead of reversing course to provide needed relief to American families, they are busy filing frivolous complaints that have zero merit.”
With the complaint in its hands, the FEC now has the chance to act, but it’s unlikely they will do so any time soon. The agency often takes quite some time to act, according to a report in The Associated Press.
What’s more, the commission consists of three Republicans and three Democrats, and as a result, they often deadlock on decisions without anything major happening.
