RFK Jr. PAC Collects Another $5 Million From Trump’s Largest Donor

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. holds a voter rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Feb. 10, 2024. Mitch Ranger/The Epoch Times

Wealthy investor Timothy Mellon simultaneously funded the candidacies of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former President Donald Trump in January, according to new federal filings.

On the evening of Feb. 20, the two central fundraising bodies associated with Mr. Kennedy’s presidential campaign—Team Kennedy and American Values 2024—reported that they brought in about $12.4 million in total receipts in January.

The two bodies spent more than $27.8 million in the first month of 2024 and headed into February with about $6.3 million in cash on hand.

Biggest Funders

Once again, Mr. Kennedy’s hybrid political action committee, American Values 2024, received a $5 million contribution from Mr. Mellon.

In 2023, Mr. Mellon was American Values 2024’s most important sponsor. He gave the PAC $15 million, or more than half of the money it raised, last year.

Also in January, according to federal records, Mr. Mellon sent $5 million to Make America Great Again Inc., the super PAC backing President Trump. Mr. Mellon, according to federal records, sent $10 million to MAGA Inc. in the last six months of 2023.

Mr. Mellon is a prominent Republican donor who has regularly made multimillion-dollar contributions to Republican groups such as the Congressional Leadership Fund and the Senate Leadership Fund, according to donor records maintained by watchdog group OpenSecrets.

Ahead of the 2020 election, Mr. Mellon contributed $20 million to America First Action, a super PAC opposing then-candidate Joe Biden.

According to Forbes, the Mellon family is worth an estimated $14.1 billion.

The January report for American Values also included a $4 million contribution from a company listed by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as Planeta Management LLC. The address provided for the entity was an office building at 50 West Liberty in Reno, Nevada.

Business records maintained by the Nevada Secretary of State’s office didn’t turn up any entity registered under that name. However, records maintained by the California Secretary of State did list Planeta Management. The entity is recognized by the Golden State as a “corporate service company.”

The Epoch Times reached out to Basin Street Properties, which leases the building, to see if more information about the listed tenant is available. The firm didn’t respond by press time.

The donations by Mr. Mellon and Planeta made up most of the $9.7 million that American Values raised in January.

Ballot Access, Security, Facebook

The Kennedy campaign accessed more than 100 million Americans on Feb. 11 when American Values 2024 aired a surprise television advertisement during the Super Bowl.

The Epoch Times previously reported that the ad cost the hybrid PAC about $7 million. The purchase wasn’t one of the 106 transactions that American Values reported to the FEC for January.

A hybrid PAC can solicit and accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor unions, and other political committees, according to the FEC. It must maintain two bank accounts: one for independent expenditures on advertisements or voter drives, and another for making direct contributions to federal candidates.

The Kennedy campaign’s main priority continues to be getting the candidate on the ballot in every state.

American Values paid a total of $325,000 to various firms for ballot access in January. Team Kennedy spent $2,900.

Security is a major campaign issue for Mr. Kennedy as well. Team Kennedy paid out about $430,000 for security services in the first month of 2024. The largest recipient of those funds was private security firm Gavin de Becker and Associates LP. That firm’s owner, Gavin de Becker, is a significant financier of the Kennedy campaign.

The campaign is also spending heavily on internet advertising. Disclosures for Team Kennedy showed 190 transactions with Facebook, the social media network owned by Meta Platforms Inc. All told, the Facebook transactions for January came to $171,000.

The Kennedy campaign is hoping that it can reach young Americans who may be dissatisfied with the Democratic and Republican parties in order to mount the most significant third-party run in recent memory.