New York Times: Trump 2020 campaign pays back millions to donors after using aggressive fundraising tactics

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Additionally, The Times reported on Saturday that more than $ 135 million had been repaid to donors by Trump’s re-election campaign, the Republican National Committee and their shared accounts during the 2020 cycle through June 2021.

A Times investigation earlier this year found that Trump’s political operation last year automatically enrolled their online donors for recurring donations every week until election day.

Donors would have to manually uncheck a box on digital donation forms if they wish to opt out of the weekly donation, the Times reported. A second preselected box removed another donation. The Trump campaign has made the warning “increasingly opaque” by including it among bold and all-caps text, according to the newspaper.

The tactic has led to demands for reimbursement from supporters and a plethora of credit card fraud complaints, the Times reported.

Citing documents recently released by the Federal Election Commission, The Times reported that of the $ 12.8 million in refunds issued this year, $ 8.1 million came from Trump and the RNC shared account, $ 2.2 million. from Trump’s re-election committee and $ 2.5 million from the RNC.

The Times previously reported that Trump and RNC’s political operation repaid $ 122 million, more than 10% of what it collected in 2020 through WinRed, which processes online donations for Republicans.

By comparison, President Joe Biden’s committees refunded more than 2% of what they collected online last year through Democratic donation processing site ActBlue, the Times reported.

According to the Times, Republicans using WinRed continue to roll out the pre-ticked box for online donations, including Trump’s political action committee, Save America, while Democrats have decided to stop using the tactic.

The Trump campaign has already defended its tactics online. Jason Miller, a campaign spokesperson, told The Times that less than 1% of transactions – about 200,000 transactions – were the subject of credit card litigation last year.

Miller did not respond to The Times about refunds issued this year.

Four attorneys general from the Democratic states of New York, Connecticut, Maryland and Minnesota are reviewing the fundraising practices of WinRed and ActBlue.

WinRed sued Minnesota last month to stop the investigations, arguing that its activities are governed by federal law, not state consumer protection laws. He called the investigations “illegal, partisan and hypocritical”.

CNN’s Fredreka Schouten contributed to this report.

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