Inside Trump's Fundraising Machine

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:05)
Ever since President Donald Trump returned to office last year, he's been advocating for all kinds of special projects. Things like a ballroom in the White House.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:16)
This is going to be probably the finest ballroom ever built.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:20)
Or his presidential library for when his term ends.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:23)
It's going to be most likely a hotel, you know. This concept could be office, but it's most likely going to be a hotel with a beautiful building underneath, and a 747, Air Force One, in the lobby.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:37)
There's also his recent Freedom 250 celebration in DC to commemorate the nation's 250th anniversary.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:43)
The iconic Washington Monument illuminated with festive birthday lights to honor the start of this historic anniversary year.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:54)
These projects all run into the millions of dollars, and a team of Wall Street Journal reporters has been looking into the fundraising efforts that are making them possible. Here's our colleague, Josh Dawsey.

**Josh Dawsey** (1:08)
Most presidents in their second term in office are not fundraising non-stop like this. It just hasn't been done before. The president's put together this unprecedented apparatus to raise money for all causes, and was really relying on corporate America for much of this money.

**Jessica Mendoza** (1:29)
As far as you know, how much money has the president raised since returning to office?

**Dana Mattioli** (1:34)
We were able to piece together at least $800 million that he's raised through different vehicles, be it the ballroom or the library, and some of these are really sizable checks.

**Jessica Mendoza** (1:45)
That's our colleague Dana Mattioli, who's also been looking into Trump's fundraising.

**Dana Mattioli** (1:49)
Many of these companies writing checks have business before the government. They're seeking federal contracts. They might have regulatory decisions coming down the pike as it relates to antitrust. They are lobbying on different things like appropriations, and they all know that President Trump is watching who is cutting checks and who isn't.

**Jessica Mendoza** (2:09)
As the Wall Street Journal team kept digging, a picture started to form of Trump's round-the-clock fundraising machine. One that involves high-profile companies and hundreds of millions of dollars. At the center of it is a powerful political operative, whom Trump himself has dubbed the Princess of Darkness. Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Thursday, August 6th.
Coming up on the show, a look inside Trump's massive fundraising operation.

**SPEAKER_5** (2:59)
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**Jessica Mendoza** (4:08)
Trump wasn't always big on fundraising. In fact, when he first entered politics, he campaigned against it.

**Josh Dawsey** (4:14)
I mean, the critical was drain the swamp.

**SPEAKER_2** (4:17)
If I'm elected president, we are going to drain the swamp in Washington, DC.

**Josh Dawsey** (4:25)
There were these forceful chants at rallies and all the things that the president said in his insurgent 2016 campaign. Few of them drew the excitement and the palpable enthusiasm from the crowd. Then this drain the swamp, this outsider message that we're coming into Washington, we're taking on the intrinsic interests, we're taking on the lobbyists, we're taking on all the big donors. No longer are you going to have these kinds of creatures controlling America.

**Dana Mattioli** (4:52)
When he was running for president for the first term, he called political action committees a scam, and he said he was going to return all the money associated with these outside packs back to the donors, even though this money would have been in support of him.

**Jessica Mendoza** (5:08)
It wasn't just rhetoric. Throughout his first term, Trump resisted having to deal with donors.
And this was his stance for years.

**Josh Dawsey** (5:16)
I mean, his aides, even in the 2020 campaign, sometimes had to cajole and beg to get him to attend some of these events, and he would be complaining, like, why do I have to take photos with all of these people? And then he would give a speech and weep, and he would be, he would be miserable. And I had several of his aides describe to me him being on Air Force One and just complaining relentlessly about having to do all of these fundraisers.