Republicans worry Trump's fundraising will 'siphon money from' midterm efforts: report

Donald Trump, accompanied by his wife Melania, attends a New Year's Eve event at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 31, 2024. REUTERS/Marco Bello

The New York Times reports President Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC raised more than $100 million in the second half of 2025, with much of the money coming from wealthy donors looking for political favors. But the sheer size of Trump’s apparent pay-to-play scheme may be draining GOP coffers.

“The haul by MAGA Inc., detailed in a campaign finance report filed on Thursday night, reveals how aggressive fundraising has continued for a political operation that revolves around Mr. Trump, giving the organization over $300 million ahead of this year’s midterms,” reports the Times. “… The biggest donations were $12.5 million each from Greg Brockman, a co-founder of the artificial intelligence firm OpenAI, and his wife, Anna Brockman; and contributions totaling $20 million from the parent company of Crypto.com, a cryptocurrency trading platform that has lobbied the administration. Leaders of the fast-growing A.I. and crypto industries have courted Mr. Trump and gotten favorable treatment.”

Other donors, said the Times, included a nursing home magnate seeking an ambassadorship, a vape-maker and a woman whose father was begging a deal from federal prosecutors to settle charges that he bribed Puerto Rico’s governor.

In addition to MAGA Inc., Trump is making money for political nonprofit group Securing American Greatness and funding the construction of an new White House ballroom whose expense keeps growing larger with each month.

But the Times is reporting that some Republicans are expressing concern that “Trump’s continued fundraising will siphon money from party campaign spending vehicles and give his allies too much sway.”

And while White House spokeswoman Liz Huston rejects any suggestion that Trump’s decisions are shaped by donations, donors whose contributions to MAGA Inc. “have benefited from actions of either Trump or his administration” or are in industries that have benefitted.

The New York Times reports many donors have received invitations to exclusive events and meetings with Trump, including official White House functions. Several have also donated to the inauguration or to Trump’s ever-growing ballroom.

The e-cigarette company Juul, for example, donated $1 million to MAGA Inc. in early November, “less than four months after the Food and Drug Administration authorized the company’s vapes for the U.S. market,” reports the Times. “The move ended a lengthy standoff with regulators and lawmakers who accused the company of spurring an epidemic of e-cigarette use among youths.”

Read the New York Times report at this link.

From Your Site Articles