In his 2024 campaign, former President Donald Trump has been openly soliciting wealthy donors on promises to pass favorable policies in exchange for much-needed campaign cash.
The Independent reported Wednesday on five different transactional pitches Trump has made to donors, as he seeks to raise enough money to maintain a competitive nationwide presidential campaign while also keeping his astronomical legal costs under control. Saurav Ghosh of the Campaign Legal Center — an anti-corruption watchdog group — referred to this method of fundraising as "brazen, quid pro quo corruption."
"It is deeply concerning and problematic to see a presidential candidate solicit millions of dollars from wealthy donors in exchange for promised policies or actions that cater to the donors’ wishes," said Ghosh, who is the group's director of federal campaign finance reform. He added that thanks to Supreme Court decisions like the 2010 Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission ruling, Trump can "act with impunity, pushing legal boundaries or even breaking them outright."
READ MORE: Trump probed over $1 billion 'quid pro quo' deal with Big Oil
1. Trump soliciting $1 billion from Big Oil in exchange for fossil fuel-friendly policies
Earlier this year, Trump met with executives and lobbyists from the oil industry, promising a slew of favorable policies in exchange for a whopping $1 billion in campaign donations. This solicitation has drawn the attention of Senate Democrats, who are now investigating Trump for potential campaign finance law violations. The industry has reportedly even pre-written draft executive orders Trump can sign on day one repealing renewable energy subsidies and undoing environmental regulations.
2. Trump flip-flopping on cryptocurrency regulations
Recently, the former president held a fundraiser in San Francisco, where he solicited high-dollar donations from wealthy Silicon Valley executives. At that event he told donors they could call him the "crypto president," vowing to beat back Democrats' proposed regulations on cryptocurrency if they wrote big checks to his campaign. This is a sharp 180-degree turn from his previous attitude toward cryptocurrencies, in which he once referred to Bitcoin as a "scam against the dollar." While tech billionaires came out hard against Trump in 2020, many have warmed toward the ex-president as he promises to make them wealthier if he wins another term in the White House.
READ MORE: GOP confirms 2025 tax plan if Trump wins
3. Trump's reversal on TikTok ban after meeting with billionaire TikTok investor
The independent reported that as president, Trump signed an executive order to ban the Chinese-owned video-based app TikTok, telling reporters in July of 2020 that he was intent on "banning them from the United States." But then billionaire Jeff Yass — who is a major investor in TikTok's parent company, ByteDance — invited Trump to speak to the Club for Growth. Even though Trump previously blasted the group as the "Club for No Growth" due to its endorsement of Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, the former president still made an appearance. He has since warmed to TikTok, and said he would oppose the Biden administration's efforts to ban the app if it failed to divest from its Chinese owners. His campaign also officially joined TikTok last week.
4. Trump eschewing past calls for "peace" in Middle East to court Israeli billionaire donor
One major issue in the 2024 race is the ongoing war in Gaza. While Biden's campaign is reeling from the Democratic base's continued protests over his unrelenting support for the far-right Netanyahu regime, Trump has no such rift in the GOP base. In fact, he previously told donors in May that as president, he would deport any foreign-born campus protesters who demonstrate in favor of Palestinian human rights, and that he would set back the pro-Palestine movement "by 25 or 30 years."
But in a June report, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Trump may go even further in his efforts to crush efforts to establish Palestinian sovereignty by suggesting to billionaire Israeli donor Miriam Adelson — the widow of GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson — that he would agree to her wishes to allow Israel to annex the Palestinian-controlled West Bank territory. This would be an egregious violation of international law and would effectively doom hopes of a two-state solution, as the West Bank is considered the hub of what would make up an independent Palestine. While Adelson has so far been quiet in the 2024 cycle, she recently promised to fund a pro-Trump super PAC to the tune of $100 million.
READ MORE: Trump vies for Adelson campaign cash — but there's one major catch
5. Trump promising to extend his tax cuts for the rich if wealthy donors pony up
In late May, the Washington Post reported that Trump was making increasingly transactional pitches to rich donors. During one meeting at a New York hotel, the former president warned potential donors that unless they opened up their checkbooks, President Joe Biden could win another term and permanently sunset the tax cut package he signed into law in 2017 that overwhelmingly benefited the rich.
"[T]axes are going to go up by four times," Trump said, with the Post observing that his estimate was inaccurate. "You’re going to have the biggest tax increase in history... So whatever you guys can do, I appreciate it."
In that report, the Post interviewed campaign finance attorney Larry Noble, who said that Trump was "testing" the boundaries of federal campaign finance law. While he can't explicitly say he would give donors something in exchange for a dollar amount, his wink-and-a-nudge approach effectively sends donors that message.
READ MORE: 'Make it $25 million': Trump 'testing boundaries' of campaign finance law in his fundraising