NYT: Trump Plans PAC in Hopes of Keeping Hold on GOP

By Staff, NYT

US President Trump is planning to form a so-called leadership political action committee, a federal fund-raising vehicle that will potentially let him retain his hold on the Republican Party even when he is out of office, officials said on Monday.

The announcement is expected as soon as this week, just days after the major news networks and newspapers called the 2020 election for former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Such committees can accept donations of up to $5,000 per donor per year — far less than the donation limits for the committees formed by Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee — but a leadership PAC could accept donations from an unlimited number of people. It could also accept donations from other political action committees.

A leadership PAC could spend an unlimited amount in so-called independent expenditures to benefit other candidates, as well as fund travel, polling and consultants. Mostly, it would almost certainly be a vehicle by which Trump could retain influence in a party that has been remade largely in his image over the past four years.

A Trump campaign spokesman, Tim Murtaugh, said the committee had been in the works for a while.
“The president always planned to do this, win or lose,” Murtaugh said, “so he can support candidates and issues he cares about, such as combating voter fraud.”

Still, a PAC could give the president an off-ramp after a bruising election fight, as well as keep him as a dominant figure as the next Republican presidential primary races are beginning for a new standard-bearer.

“President Trump is not going anywhere anytime soon,” said Matt Gorman, a Republican strategist. “He’s going to insert himself in the national debate in a way that’s unlike any of his predecessors.”

Before the election, Trump told advisers, sometimes joking and other times not, that he might run again in 2024 if he lost to Biden.