Breaking from the rules that allow his team to raise infinite amounts, President-elect Donald Trump’s transition will still rely exclusively on private donations.
Signing a similar agreement with the General Services Administration would also set aside more than$ 7 million for federal funding. Republicans recently argued that rejecting federal money was appropriate given previous reports on anti-Trump steps taken by the GSA, and the Trump transition claimed its decision will” save taxpayers ‘ hard-earned money.”
Democrats and progressive watchdog organizations can now use the transition’s private funding model to entice those who want to sway Trump into giving them unrestricted amounts of money to control the change. Trump’s aide said the transition wo n’t accept donations from foreigners and will make the donors ‘ names public.
The Trump move is scheduled to release the names of the donors, The Washington Examiner inquired.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA ) stated on social media this week that” the reliance on private donors to finance the transition is nothing more than a ploy for well-connected Trump insiders to line their pockets while pretending to save taxpayers ‘ money.
” So it is unsettling if there’s this weird, illegal means that basically everyone can only provide funds to the leader”, Marsco told Politico.
Within 30 weeks of taking the oath of office, the Trump change may make its donors known to the General Services Administration, per the Presidential Records Act. The change, like others in the past, is set up as a volunteer team registered with the IRS.
In 2020, Biden’s change staff raised over$ 22 million and had 450 people on the payment. Upon Barack Obama winning the presidency in 2008, he raised$ 4.5 million for his change, which prohibited funds from political action boards, activists, authorized foreign agents, labour unions, and businesses.
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The General Services Administration agreement was signed in 2016 and raised$ 6.5 million for the first Trump change. The federal government provided$ 2.4 million in payouts for the 2016 change, which had about 120 workers on the books. It likewise spent around$ 1.8 million in legal fees.
Without the protections provided by these restrictions and reporting needs, Marsco said, there is a significant chance that the general public will remain uninformed about what is happening.
