Trump is holding on to the bulk of his super PAC money for his favorite candidate, himself

After raising millions to help Republican candidates in the midterms, Trump doled out only a small portion of it

By Kelly McClure

Nights & Weekends Editor

Published December 14, 2022 7:40PM (EST)

 (Getty Images/Salon)
(Getty Images/Salon)

Out of the $100 million left available in Trump's super PAC, he appears to have only spent a small portion of it to help Republican candidates in the midterms, which was its intended purpose. 

According to a HuffPost analysis of Federal Election Commission filings, only $15 million "went toward electing Republicans in five Senate races," and not a cent of it was used towards Herschel Walker's Dec. 6 runoff, which leaves the rest to be used on who followers of Trump's financials are calling his "favorite candidate," himself.

 "It's so obvious to the point of cliche at this point that Trump is in this for one person and one person alone, himself," said Rory Cooper, previously an aide to former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a quote to HuffPost. "He steals fundraising, picks lousy candidates, and is an anchor in competitive races, so one would wonder how much longer the party tolerates this loser nonsense."

In the case of Walker, HuffPost's analysis determined that he received $15.4 million in assistance from Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell's Senate Leadership Fund, but a glaringly blank sum from Trump, who had been championing him up to that point.


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 "Never seen anything like this," says Brendan Fischer, Deputy Executive Director of investigative watchdog and journalism project @ItsDocumented. "New FEC reports show that last month, Trump transferred $40 MILLION from his Save America PAC—which cannot use its funds to support Trump's candidacy—to a newly-created super PAC that will surely spend the money backing his 2024 presidential run."

"Trump hoarding cash wasn't helpful, especially since he dragged most of these losing candidates into the races they eventually lost," said former White House political adviser Scott Jennings in HuffPost's reporting on Trump's super PAC usage.

On Wednesday, Trump dropped a hint as to where his attentions are focused with a video declaring that he'll be making a "major announcement" on Thursday. In the video, an image is shown of Trump depicted as a super hero with laser beams coming out of his eyes.


By Kelly McClure

Kelly McClure is Salon's Nights and Weekends Editor covering daily news, politics and culture. Her work has been featured in Vulture, The A.V. Club, Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan, Nylon, Vice, and elsewhere. She is the author of Something is Always Happening Somewhere.

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