How a 'grifter' went from slamming Trump to tricking the media and selling pro-Trump merch

Critics of former President Donald Trump, from liberals and progressives to right-wing Never Trump conservatives, have been slamming the 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner for fundraising off his four criminal indictments. And it isn't uncommon to hear them attack Trump as a "grifter" who is seeking donations from people who can't afford them.

But in a report published on September 7, the Daily Beast's Roger Sollenberger describes a different type of grifting: a website operated by someone who has tried to make money both attacking Trump and defending him.

Sollenberger reports, "Donald Trump's grifting appears to know no bounds. But now, an apparent Trump critic has charted new territory, turning Trump's grift into their own — and duping national media organizations in the process. A website purporting to associate itself with Trump's 'Patriot Legal Defense Fund' is now being denounced as 'fake,' as it appears to be trying to swindle Trump supporters into lining the pockets of an anti-Trump scammer. And while the identity of the site's owner is still unknown, it's clear the person is no fan of the former president."

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The reporter notes that PatriotLegalDefenseFund.com — has "expressed contradictory views of Trump so stark that major publications, including the tech-savvy site Gizmodo, attributed the work to hackers." The site, Sollenberger reports, went from slamming Trump to selling pro-Trump merchandise.

But a source with knowledge of the real Patriot Legal Defense Fund, according to Sollenberger, told the Beast, "It's a fake site selling fake merch. The legal fund does not have a website nor do we sell merch."

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The Daily Beast's full report is available at this link (subscription required).