Former President Donald Trump is closing the financial gap between himself and President Joe Biden with the help of billionaire donors.
In a June 4 memo, Taylor Budowich, the CEO of the super political action committee Make America Great Again Inc., said the Trump campaign and its closest allies raised nearly $370 million in May. Most of that fundraising came after the felony conviction in the New York falsified business records case, according to the campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC).
The large haul came on the heels of the RNC and the former president claiming they had outraised the Biden campaign in April.
These claims cannot be independently verified until official reports are issued. Political committees report on a monthly basis and will issue their disclosure statements covering May on June 20. The full scope of both campaigns’ finances won’t be revealed until July 15, when a number of wealthy joint fundraising committees issue statements for fundraising in the second quarter of 2024.
Existing federal disclosure statements show that President Trump or one of his affiliated committees, like MAGA Inc., already received millions of dollars from the most politically active billionaires.
Since the beginning of 2023, MAGA Inc. pulled in about $68.7 million from billionaire donors, according to FEC records. A joint fundraising committee, Trump 47 Committee Inc., brought in about $11.2 million since January, according to the regulator.
The Biden campaign denounced the Trump campaign’s super-wealthy donors.
“They know if they cut him campaign checks, he’ll cut their taxes while he cuts Social Security and other benefits for the middle class,” James Singer, a spokesman for the Biden campaign, said in a May 30 message to journalists.
According to FEC records, the Biden campaign is also supported by a phalanx of billionaires.
Wealthy donors send gifts to the hybrid PAC Future Forward or the joint fundraising committee Biden Victory Fund.
Miriam Adelson Enters the Picture
A representative for Miriam Adelson told The Epoch Times that the billionaire widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson will spend even more on the 2024 election than her late husband did during the 2020 race.The money will not go directly to the Trump campaign or an affiliated PAC, but rather, it will likely go toward the super PAC Preserve America. In 2020, according to FEC records, that group raised more than $105 million. Almost all of that money was spent opposing President Biden.
In 2020, the Adelsons gave Preserve America $90 million, according to FEC records.
Preserve America currently reports every quarter. Financial moves made by the PAC won’t be publicly known until the middle of July. When it last reported to the FEC in 2021, it had no money in its bank account.
According to the watchdog organization OpenSecrets, Mr. Adelson was the biggest individual spender of the 2020 election cycle, spending more than $215 million on various Republican causes.
In 2016, he was the second-largest spender, according to OpenSecrets. Then, he spent more than $82 million on Republican causes.
Ms. Adelson received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Trump in 2018. He died in January 2021.
Power Players
Two of the five largest spenders of the 2024 election cycle thus far are backing former President Trump in some form. According to OpenSecrets data, philanthropist Timothy Mellon and Robert Bigelow, the founder, president, and program manager of Bigelow Aerospace, rank as the third-largest and fifth-largest donors in terms of overall spending.Together, the pair have spent more than $79 million on the election. Mr. Mellon, an heir to the Mellon family fortune, has donated $25 million to MAGA Inc. since the beginning of 2023. Mr. Bigelow, formerly the largest financial supporter of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s run for the Republican nomination, has given about $9.1 million.
Mr. Mellon is also the biggest single backer of independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. This has led some in the Democratic Party to conclude that Mr. Kennedy is running purely to pull votes away from President Biden. Mr. Mellon is Mr. Kennedy’s lone billionaire donor.
Ken Griffin, the founder and CEO of Citadel, said at a May conference hosted by Bloomberg that he is “going to wait to see who [President Trump] picks as his VP candidate” before he makes a final decision on whether to back the former president.
In the same public appearance, Mr. Griffin said he hasn’t donated to any fund related to former President Trump yet. Mr. Griffin previously donated to a fund backing former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley.
Mr. Griffin, who said he’s currently focused on helping his favored Republican candidates win representation in Congress, is ranked as the second-largest donor of the 2024 cycle by OpenSecrets. He’s spent nearly $60 million so far.
However, there are signs Mr. Griffin will be making some impact on the presidential race. According to an invitation to an event called the “Great Opportunity Policy Summit,” Mr. Griffin will speak alongside former Trump administration officials including Kellyanne Conway, Brian Hook, and John Ratcliffe.
According to the invitation, the summit will also feature Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.). Mr. Scott is considered a leading vice president contender.
Other attendees include Marc Rowan, CEO of private equity firm Apollo Global Management; Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz; Bill Ackman, the founder and CEO of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management; and Jacob Helberg, a senior advisor to the CEO of analytics firm Palantir Technologies Inc.
Mr. Helberg is the partner of Keith Rabois, a managing director at venture capital firm Khosla Ventures. Mr. Rabois, a major Republican donor, formerly supported Ms. Haley financially.
According to Forbes, Mr. Rowan, Mr. Andreessen, Mr. Ackman, and Mr. Rabois are all billionaires.
Flips
Mr. Bigelow isn’t the only deep-pocketed donor to flip to former President Trump as the election draws closer.On June 3, Doug Leone, a partner at venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, said on social media platform X that he will be supporting the former president. He donated millions to Never Back Down Inc., a super PAC helping Mr. DeSantis, in 2023.
“I have become increasingly concerned about the general direction of our country, the state of our broken immigration system, the ballooning deficit, and the foreign policy missteps, among other issues,” Mr. Leone said.
Mr. Ackman could be entering the fold for former President Trump, too. Mr. Ackman previously donated to SFA Fund Inc., a hybrid PAC affiliated with Ms. Haley. He also sent gifts to funds helping former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
Representatives of Mr. Ackman’s office declined to comment on recent media reports suggesting he would soon support former President Trump. However, on social media, Mr. Ackman posted and reposted messages critical of President Biden and his administration.
Reliable Allies
According to FEC records, President Trump already has significant financial support from billionaire political allies, friends, and former administration officials.Two former members of his administration, Linda McMahon, who was the small business administrator, and Robert “Woody” Johnson IV, who was an ambassador to the United Kingdom under President Trump, have donated more than $11 million to MAGA Inc. Ms. McMahon, who also led a fundraising body supporting President Trump’s 2020 campaign, contributed more than $10 million to the super PAC.
Billionaire figures in the oil industry have also made significant contributions. Tim Dunn, CEO of CrownQuest Operating, gave $5 million to MAGA Inc. Harold Hamm, founder and chairman of Continental Resources, and Kelcy Warren, chairman and CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, both contributed more than $600,000 to Trump 47. Continental Resources also sent $1 million to MAGA Inc.
Diane Hendricks, co-founder of the building materials company ABC Supply, donated $5 million to MAGA Inc. According to OpenSecrets donor records, Ms. Hendricks is a major donor to national and Wisconsin Republican Party causes and gave millions to President Trump’s 2020 reelection effort.
Other billionaires who contributed at least a million to MAGA Inc. include Patricia Duggan, the wife of Summit Therapeutics CEO Robert Duggan; Phil Ruffin, a Las Vegas hotelier and one-time business partner of President Trump; Charles Kushner, the father of former President Trump’s son-in-law and former senior advisor Jared Kushner; Jimmy John’s founder James Liautaud; Home Depot Inc. founder Bernie Marcus; Los Angeles real estate magnate George Bishop; and Howard W. Lutnick, Chairman and CEO of the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald LP.
More on the Way?
David Sacks, a founder and partner at the venture capital firm Craft Ventures, and Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital, announced on their podcast, “The All-In,” on May 31 that they are hosting a fundraising event for former President Trump.Mr. Palihapitiya and Mr. Sacks said they hosted similar events for other Republicans and Democrats and Mr. Kennedy. However, Mr. Palihapitiya described himself as apolitical and said he would donate to the former president.
Reports circulated that Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO and co-founder of private equity group Blackstone, would support former President Trump. Another report said that Nelson Peltz, a founding partner of the hedge fund Trian Partners, was involved in meetings with former President Trump about fundraising.
Neither of those reports mentioned a financial commitment. Representatives of Mr. Schwarzman and Mr. Peltz did not respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.
According to OpenSecrets donor records, Mr. Schwarzman was an eight-figure backer of the conservative congressional groups Senate Leadership Fund and Congressional Leadership Fund in 2020 and 2022. He also gave $3 million to America First Action, the group supporting former President Trump’s reelection campaign in 2020.
In 2023, Mr. Schwarzman gave $2 million to a group supporting Mr. Christie.
By comparison, Mr. Peltz is not a significant donor, although, according to OpenSecrets, he is a consistent donor to the RNC.
