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Time in Yerevan: 11:07,   29 March 2024

The Wall Street Journal: Sheldon Adelson in talks to create Pro-Trump Super PAC

The Wall Street Journal: Sheldon Adelson in talks to create Pro-Trump Super PAC

YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS. Billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson is looking to set up a super PAC to support Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, a move that would add financial firepower from one of the most prolific donors of the 2012 cycle, “Armenpress” reports citing The Wall Street Journal.

Creation of the super PAC, which also would support Republicans in key congressional races, hasn’t been finalized, according to two people familiar with the talks. But it marks the latest sign that more of the party establishment is coalescing around the New York businessman after a bitter primary fight. Adelson endorsed Trump in early May, saying the election of another Democrat in 2016 would be “frightening.”

Adelson, chairman and chief executive of Las Vegas Sands Corp., is aiming to ensure that his funds be used effectively after his experience in 2012, one of the people said. In that cycle, he spent close to $100 million on Republican causes, supporting one winning and eight losing candidates—including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and eventual GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

Sheldon Adelson’s backing would help Mr. Trump overcome a current financial gap with likely general-election opponent Hillary Clinton. At the end of April, according to campaign-finance reports, the Democratic front-runner had $30 million in the bank, to $2.4 million for Trump, who until recently was largely self-funding his campaign.

The latest group would join a cluster of other super PACs—which can raise unlimited funds from groups or individuals but can’t coordinate directly with a campaign—that already formed to back Trump.

Great America PAC, headed by longtime GOP strategist Ed Rollins, has raised $2 million to date for Donald Trump and recently notched the backing of oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens, media mogul Stanley Hubbard and some major bundlers for Romney and 2008 nominee John McCain. Another group, headed by former Ben Carson campaign staffer Doug Watts, has said it plans to raise $20 million by June, but won’t have to disclose its fundraising to the Federal Election Commission until June 20.

Real-estate investor Tom Barrack—who hosted a fundraiser for Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee at his Santa Monica, Calif., home last week that raised $6 million—is also considering starting a pro-Trump super PAC, according to a person familiar with his plans. The person said Barrack would help start the group, but wouldn’t run it.

“We can’t stop people from supporting Donald Trump,” said Hope Hicks, Trump’s spokeswoman. “There has been a tremendous outpouring of enthusiasm for Donald Trump as well as a desire to ensure the resources are in place to defeat Hillary Clinton and the Democrats in November.”

Trump spent the Republican primary railing against super PACs and the donors who gave to them, and accused candidates who accepted their support of being “puppets.”

He has so far refrained from endorsing a super PAC, but called Rollins, a co-chairman of Great America PAC, “so tremendous” in a recent MSNBC interview. His campaign website also trumpeted news articles about new donors to the group.

Trump’s rivals in both parties have had allied super PACs whose fundraising operations moved into action as soon as the candidates began their campaigns, if not earlier. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush raised $100 million for his super PAC, largely before he officially entered the Republican primary. The super PAC backing Hillary Clinton raised more than $75 million through the end of April.

So far, Mr. Trump’s fundraising efforts have largely centered around a joint committee the campaign formed with the Republican National Committee in mid-May. Under the agreement, donors can write checks of as much as $449,400 to the committee, most of which is transferred to the RNC. Through April, Donald Trump raised $14 million for his campaign, on top of $43 million in personal loans. Hillary Clinton raised $213 million in that time period.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie—who dropped out of the presidential race in February and has since endorsed Trump—has also been involved in the discussions, the person said. Christie now serves as head of Trump’s transition team to prepare for the possibility of the presidency, and any role the governor would have in the group would have to be limited.

 








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