Free Republic

President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into various Trump-owned properties since the beginning of 2017, according to the organization’s latest filings with the Federal Election Commission. The filings show the organization, Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., has spent over $100,000 on various products and services in Trump family properties in Washington, D.C., New York, and Las Vegas. The largest expenditures are for commercial space in Trump Tower on Fifth Ave. in Manhattan, the flagship of the Trump family’s sprawling business empire. The campaign leases offices for approximately $40,000 per month, totaling just over...

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) may not have achieved much since arriving in Washington, other than interrupting witnesses in official hearings. But her performances — preserved and promoted on YouTube — have made her a prospect for the presidential race in 2020 — and the Democrats’ latest fundraising weapon, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, as she lends her name to other candidates and causes. The Chronicle notes (original links):

The president's high-dollar fundraiser Wednesday night at his Washington hotel is expected to bring in nearly $10 million for GOP campaign coffers and his 2020 re-election bid, the Washington Examiner has learned. A RNC spokesman said about 300 people are expected to attend. The president, first lady Melania Trump, RNC Finance Chairman Steve Wynn and RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel will be in attendance at the Trump International Hotel. The fundraiser comes as Trump begins amassing campaign cash for his 2020 re-election bid. "Of course he's running for re-election," White House deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders said during Wednesday's press...

The Republican party is giving away a dinner with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. "You have the opportunity to be flown out to D.C., meet President Trump, and have your picture taken with him so you can remember this moment forever," the contest entry form notes. The contest is a fundraiser for the Trump Make America Great Again committee. You can make a donation of any amount to enter, or as noted in the fine print, by filling out your entry form here with no monetary contribution required. Deadline for entry is June 25 at 11:59 p.m. ET. The...

The FBI just carried out a raid on the Annapolis office of a Republican party fundraising firm called Strategic Campaign Group, leading to widespread questions about what connection the raid might have to the FBI’s ongoing investigation of the Donald Trump campaign. Palmer Report’s research team determined that the firm in question is in fact connected to Trump campaign advisers Paul Manafort and Roger Stone.

DEVELOPING STORY ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The FBI confirms agents are executing a search warrant at an office of a GOP fundraiser/consulting firm in Annapolis, the 11 News I-Team has learned. The investigation is being run out of Washington, not locally, the I-Team has learned.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) has raked in over $5 million dollars in the first quarter of 2017 while gearing up for re-election in 2018. Warren's campaign account has increased from $4.8 million to more than $9.2 million, after receiving over $5.2 million in campaign funds this year, according to CNS News. In comparison, Warren only received $1 million in the 4th quarter of 2016. A major contributor to the funds was MoveOn.org, a liberal organization that raised over $250,000 for Warren. In addition, the senator herself started selling T-shirts bearing the slogan, "Nevertheless, She Persisted."

The Republican National Committee, together with President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, raised more than $53 million in the first quarter of 2017, according to party and campaign officials, fueled by the same class of online donors who flocked to Mr. Trump last year. Of that, the RNC raised $41.3 million in the first three months of the year—more than double what its Democratic counterpart raised in the quarter after former President Barack Obama was elected in 2008—while Mr. Trump’s campaign raised $3.3 million and a joint committee between the two raised more than $9 million. Frequent fundraising emails bearing...

President Trump raised more money from small donors during the 2016 campaign than Sen. Bernard Sanders and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton combined, and also topped former President Obama during each of Mr. Obama’s presidential runs, according to a new analysis released Tuesday. Mr. Trump raised about $239 million from small donors during the campaign, compared to $137 million for Mrs. Clinton and about $100 million for Mr. Sanders, according to the report from the Campaign Finance Institute. Mr. Obama had raised about $219 million from small donors during the 2012 race and about $181 million during the 2008 campaign. Mitt...

PHILADELPHIA (CBS)–A volunteer fire company in Pennsylvania is raising eyebrows with its fundraising event. The hometown fire company in Schuylkill County is holding a “naughty bingo night.” The event is for adults only. Organizers say 160 tickets are being sold for $20.

But if they get it, will they know what to do with it? As the Democratic Party struggles to regain its footing following its disastrous November election, one vestige of the 2016 campaign has taken on much importance: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' email list. Sanders, who raised $218 million online from a record 2.8 million donors, rewrote the rules of email fundraising during his campaign by relentlessly courting small-dollar contributors. For many of those donors, Sanders was the first Democratic presidential candidate they had supported—or the first politician they had ever helped. In an interview with the Huffington Post in...

In the small Gulf Coast city of Victoria, Texas, there are several churches, but just one synagogue, and one mosque — at least, until the mosque mysteriously burned down on Saturday, according to the New York Times. Now, in a sense, the synagogue has become a mosque: the Jews of Victoria handed the Muslims the key to the building, so they would a place to worship while rebuilding. “Everyone knows everybody, I know several members of the mosque, and we felt for them,” said Robert Loeb, the president of Bnai Israel, which affiliates with the Reconstructionist movement. On Sunday, the...

A Texas mosque has received nearly $1m in donations after it was destroyed in a fire over the weekend. More than $900,000 had been raised to rebuild the Islamic Center of Victoria as of Monday afternoon, according to a GoFundMe page. Texas officials have yet to determine the cause of the blaze, which happened in the early hours of Saturday.

President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural committee has raised a record $90 million to cover the steep costs of next weekend's festivities, the Associated Press reported. That far outpaces President Obama’s $55 million in 2009 and $43 million in 2013, the AP reported.

Hillary Clinton and her supporters spent a record $1.2 billion for her losing presidential campaign — twice as much as the winner, Donald Trump, according to the latest records. The president-elect, who confounded critics during the campaign by saying there was no need to raise or spend $1 billion or more, ended up making do with $600 million.

After successfully launching a recount of election results in Wisconsin, Green Party candidate Jill Stein is now setting her sites on Pennsylvania. As of Monday morning, Stein has raised $6.2 million dollars, covering the costs of recounts in both Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and is close to her total goal of $7 million goal to cover recount costs in Michigan. But when it comes to the Keystone State, it turns out raising the money might have been the easiest step. As Stein points out herself in a video posted on Sunday, initiating a statewide recount of Pennsylvania’s vote is “especially complicated.”...

Tyler durdenNovember 27,2016 Over the past couple of days we've written numerous times about Jill Stein's recount efforts in WI, MI and PA (see here, here and here). And while it's clear that Stein intends to move forward with recounts in all three states (she's now up to $6.1mm in donations), what is unclear, and quite perplexing, is exactly why she's pursuing these recounts in the first place. Here are the potential justifications from Stein's perspective, as we see them:1.Personal self-interest? - Obviously, No. With less than 1% of the vote in WI, MI and PA, Stein obviously has no...

Hillary Clinton’s recount scheme started on election night, right after Pennsylvania’s electoral votes went to Donald Trump. A dirty trick was formed behind the scenes, and now, leaked information exposes the roles of Barack Obama, Jill Stein, and the rest of the evil cabal behind it all. Their goal goes way beyond just a recount — it’s all about stopping Donald Trump by using nefarious means. Why would Jill Stein call for a recount? There is no way she can win even one state, yet here she is, saying she has gotten millions in donations to do a recount, starting...

Wisconsin could be at risk of missing a Dec. 13 deadline to certify its 10 electoral votes if clerks can't complete an expected recount by then. Hitting the deadline could be particularly tricky if Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein is able to force the recount to be conducted by hand, Wisconsin's top election official said. Stein — who received just 1% of the vote in Wisconsin — has promised to file for a recount by Friday's 5 p.m. deadline in Wisconsin. She is also planning to ask for recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania, which have deadlines next week. A...