Trump Raised $107 Million for Inauguration, Doubling Record
• May 15, 2017
Nicholas Fandos, The New York Times
WASHINGTON — President Trump raised twice as much money for his inauguration festivities as any previous president-elect in history, pulling in tens of millions of dollars from wealthy donors and large corporations eager to woo the nation’s new chief executive in the days after his unexpected victory.
Disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday showed the contributions from corporate executives, lobbyists and businesses, as well as small donors, totaled $107 million. The previous record was held by President Barack Obama, who raised $53 million for his 2009 inauguration.
Mr. Trump’s inaugural committee is not required to report how it spent the money on his inauguration festivities, which included more than 20 events and drew modest crowds in January. In a statement on Tuesday, the committee said it was still identifying charities toward which it would direct leftover money, although it did not detail how much was left.
The report is likely to only intensify questions about Mr. Trump’s commitment to the populist ideas raised in recent weeks by several policy shifts and realignments among White House staff.
Inaugural committees face few of the regulations that limit campaigns in what they can raise and how they can go about raising it. In practice, that has left it up to each administration to determine its own restrictions.
President George W. Bush, for example, capped gifts at $100,000 in 2001 and at $250,000 in 2005. Mr. Obama accepted gifts only up to $50,000 in 2009, while banning gifts from lobbyists and corporations altogether. He loosened those restrictions in 2013 after a bruising campaign, accepting corporate gifts up to $1 million and individual gifts up to $250,000.
Mr. Trump appears to have set comparatively few limits for his inauguration. His team said it would not accept donations from registered federal lobbyists nor would it solicit corporate gifts over $1 million. But it did not put a cap on what it would take from individuals.
Donor packages for the festivities ranged from $25,000 to $1 million or more for both individuals and corporations. Depending on the level of contribution, donors gained access to a slate of private events with Mr. Trump and his inner circle, as well as special seating for his swearing-in and other public events.
For Mr. Trump, the fast pace of fund-raising appears to have continued past Inauguration Day. His re-election campaign, which was incorporated the same day he took the oath of office, reported last week that it had raised $7.1 million during the first three months of this year.
You can find the full article by Nicholas Fandos here.
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