A federal grand jury is reportedly seeking information about a leadership PAC formed by former President Donald Trump that dozens of people in the Columbus area contributed thousands of dollars to since the 2020 election.
ABC News first reported Thursday that subpoenas have been issued in recent weeks involving Trump’s Save America leadership PAC as investigations into the former president continue to expand, according to The Associated Press.
The subpoenas have asked recipients about the political action committee’s formation, its fundraising activities and its spending.
The Department of Justice and Trump spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Filings with the Federal Election Commission show that 45 people in the Columbus area have contributed a collective $12,948 to the PAC since its formation, including 13 Bartholomew County residents who contributed about $5,815.
Trump is now the subject of numerous ongoing federal and state investigations, including several probing his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol building, his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and how thousands of government records, including documents with highly classified markings, ended up at his private Mar-a-Lago club, according to wire reports.
Trump aggressively fundraised off the 2020 election, capitalizing on his supporters’ anger about and refusal to accept his loss. During its hearings, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack said Trump’s fundraising machine had collected some $250 million from his campaigns to “Stop the Steal” and others in the aftermath of the election, mostly in small-dollar donations from Americans. One plea for cash went out 30 minutes before the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Local contributions to the PAC have intensified since the Jan. 6 insurrection — including one Jackson County resident who made a contribution on the day of the attack, federal records show.
A total of $7,494 of the $12,948 of the contributions to the PAC — about 58% — by residents of Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson and Jennings counties were made after Jan. 6, 2021.
No credible evidence has emerged to support Trump’s claims that the election was marred by mass fraud, according to the AP. Numerous state and local elections officials, including Trump’s own attorney general and judges he appointed, have also rejected such claims.
Trump’s PAC — which he has used to pay for his post-presidential rallies, other travel, legal bills and even the portraits of him and the former first lady that will one day hang in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery — has raised millions since its creation. It ended July with just under $100 million cash-on-hand, according to government filings.
The PAC also made a $5,000 contribution to Greg Pence for Congress this past June 30, as well as similar contributions to other members of Indiana’s congressional delegation.
