Make America Great Again PAC
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| Make America Great Again PAC | |
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| Basic facts | |
| Location: | New York |
| Type: | Super PAC |
| Top official: | Mike Ciletti |
| Founder(s): | Leslie Caldwell |
| Year founded: | 2015 |
| Website: | Official website |
| Super PACs |
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| Read more about super PACs and the super PACs covered on Ballotpedia. |
Make America Great Again PAC (MAGA PAC) was a pro-Donald Trump Super PAC. It was established in July 2015 by Leslie Caldwell. The super PAC filed termination paperwork on July 6, 2016, with the FEC and refunded over a $1 million to its donors.[1][2]
Super PACs
- See also: Super PAC
A Super PAC is a political committee that has no legal limits on its spending or the donations it accepts. A Super PAC is not allowed to contribute directly to a politician or political party but can spend independently to campaign for or against political figures. Hence, Super PACs are officially called independent expenditure-only committees.[3] Super PACs are not legally considered a kind of political action committee (PAC), which have separate rules governing their activities.[4]
In 1976 the U.S. Supreme Court held that individuals have the right to spend as much as they want on independent political messaging. Wealthy individuals could, and did, spend extensively on elections.[5] With two 2010 rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted restrictions on corporation and union spending on politics. Individuals, corporations and unions can now legally donate and spend unlimited amounts on independent political speech as well as donate unlimited amounts to groups that make independent expenditures.[6][7]
Background
Founded in July 2015, Make America Great Again PAC (MAGA PAC) was a pro-Donald Trump Super PAC established by Leslie Caldwell. According to the FEC Statement of Organization, Caldwell was the custodian of record and treasurer.[8]
On July 6, 2016, MAGA PAC filed for termination with the FEC, effectively ending the super PAC. The super PAC refunded $1,033,000 to its donors.[2][1]
Finances
Phillip Ruffin, who contributed $1 million, is the owner of Treasure Island Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, while Seryl Kushner, who gave $100,000 is Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump's mother-in-law.[9][10] The Washington Post noted that "Make America Great Again eventually refunded Ruffin's money and a few other contributions in December after spending about half a million dollars on consulting, legal expenses, travel, polling and other costs."[1] Below is a list of the top five donors in 2015.
| Top five 2015 donors to MAGA PAC[11] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Contribution amount | ||
| Phillip Ruffin | $1,000,000 | ||
| Andrew Beal | $100,000 | ||
| Michael Dezertov | $100,000 | ||
| Seryl Kushner | $100,000 | ||
| Phillip Pilevsky | $100,000 | ||
Noteworthy events
Alleged connections to Trump campaign
On October 20, 2015, The Washington Post reported that there were several connections between the Super PAC and Trump's campaign.[12] Mike Ciletti, who was a consultant for the Super PAC according to Politico, had also received payments from the Trump campaign for consulting work.[13] Such interaction is permissible by law, provided that precautions are taken to guarantee that no coordination takes place between the two organizations. The Washington Post also noted that it had been suggested that, prior to announcing his candidacy, Trump helped to coordinate the Super PAC. Corey Lewandowski, Trump's former campaign manager, denies that any such coordination took place.[12] Such coordination would be legal, as long as Trump had not declared his candidacy.
The Post also reported that Trump attended two fundraising events in July and August 2015 for MAGA PAC. While donations were not a prerequisite for attending, many attendees made donations at the event. One of the events was hosted by Trump's daughter's in-laws, Charles and Seryl Kushner, who subsequently donated $100,000 to MAGA PAC.[13][12]
Lewandowski threatened to sue The Washington Post if they made insinuations that Trump had any ties to MAGA PAC.[14]
Former staffer comments
In an interview on March 24, 2016, Stephanie Cegielski, a former spokeswoman for the group stated that, “I am glad [Trump] has brought more people to the political process but I question his ability to be the leader of this country."[15]
In an open letter on March 28, 2016, Cegielski explained why she no longer supported Trump:
| “ | I don't think even Trump thought he would get this far. And I don’t even know that he wanted to, which is perhaps the scariest prospect of all.
He certainly was never prepared or equipped to go all the way to the White House, but his ego has now taken over the driver's seat, and nothing else matters. ... His ego has now taken over the driver's seat, and nothing else matters. The Donald does not fail. The Donald does not have any weakness. The Donald is his own biggest enemy. ... Trump acts as if he’s a fictional character. But like Hercules, Donald Trump is a work of fiction.[16] |
” |
"Catfishing scheme"
On August 23, 2016, Politico reported that Steven Wessel, a "convicted con man", had been "catfishing" or seeking information through false identities from Republican operatives opposed to Donald Trump, including Rick Wilson, Liz Mair, and Cheri Jacobus. Wilson was one of the more active participants of the NeverTrump movement. Mair served as a Scott Walker's social media consultant and strategist during his run for president in 2016, while Jacobus, a Republican consultant, had filed a lawsuit against Trump and his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski for defamation of character.[18][19]
Wessel was seeking information about how Trump's critics intended to target the Republican presidential nominee. Wilson and the others targeted in the alleged scheme said that the emails appeared to come from Colorado servers and the phone calls they received were also from Colorado. Wilson has charged that Make America Great Again PAC was involved. Mike Ciletti, the Colorado-based former head of MAGA PAC and close friend of Lewandowski, denied he knew the targets or anything about the so-called scheme.[19]
According to Politico, shortly after the news outlet began circulating that they were working on the article covering the "catfishing", Jacobus reported that her email account had been hacked and the emails she received from Wessel had disappeared from the server, which has been reported to the FBI's Cyber Division.[19]
As soon as public prosecutors discovered Wessel's alleged "catfishing" scheme, his bail on previously existing charges was revoked and he was sent to prison to serve a 55-month sentence for those prior convictions.[19]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Make America Great Again PAC. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Donald Trump
- Donald Trump 2016 Presidential Campaign
- Super PAC
- Republican presidential election super PACs, 2016
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Washington Post, "Longtime Trump friend seeded pro-Trump super PAC with $1 million," February 4, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 FEC, "Termination, Make America Great Again PAC," accessed August 23, 2016
- ↑ New York Times, "Who's Financing the Super PACs?" May 7, 2012
- ↑ The Atlantic, "The New York Times' Disingenuous Campaign Against Citizens United," February 24, 2012
- ↑ George Will, "Super PACs can't crown a king February 29, 2012
- ↑ Slate, "The Numbers Don’t Lie," March 9, 2012
- ↑ Fred Wertheimer, "Citizens United and Contributions to Super PACs: A Little History Is in Order," February 21, 2012
- ↑ FEC, "Statement of Organization," accessed October 20, 2015
- ↑ Forbes, "Phillip Ruffin," accessed February 26, 2016
- ↑ The New York Times, "Donald Trump Pays a Visit to His Not-So-Poor Relations," August 23, 2015
- ↑ Open Secrets, "Make America Great Again PAC," accessed October 24, 2016
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 The Washington Post, "The inside story of Trump campaign’s connections to a big-money super PAC," October 18, 2015
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Politico, "Trump attended big-donor fundraiser last month," August 23, 2015
- ↑ TPM, "Trump Aide Threatens To Sue WaPo For Reporting Ties To Super PAC," October 19, 2015
- ↑ Free Beacon, "Former Pro-Trump Operative Disavows GOP Frontrunner," March 24, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ XOJane, "An Open Letter to Trump Voters from His Top Strategist-Turned-Defector," March 28, 2016
- ↑ The New York Times, "Republican Consultant Cheri Jacobus Files Libel Suit Against Donald Trump," April 18, 2016
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 Politico, "Anti-Trump operatives targeted in online ‘catfishing’ scheme," August 23, 2016
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