20 Apr 2017 11:18 pm
For those who say Obama did the same thing:On Tuesday, the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC), an organization appointed by the President-elect to plan and coordinate all inauguration activities, filed a 510-page report with the Federal Election Committee (FEC) to disclose that they had raised a staggering $106.7 million in donations -- the most ever raised for a president’s inauguration.
The release of the contribution records reveals that Trump’s top inaugural donors included business leaders and corporations, including several from the financial, energy, and technology sector that have business dealings with the U.S. government.
"This is the complete opposite of what candidate Trump campaigned on, where he attacked these huge corporations, made clear they could buy politicians because he had done so, and is the political equivalent of overflowing the swamp not draining it," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy21, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works on money in politics and government reform issues.
He added that the report shows that Trump appears to have raised "influence money," despite his campaign promises to avoid special interests.
The big-money donations appear to counter Trump's own statements.
In August of last year, Trump railed against big-money donors who seek to curry favor with elected politicians.
"Look, I know the people that want something. I’ve been doing this all my life. I’ve been a very big contributor to many, many people on all sides for many, many years," Trump stated on CBS’s "Face the Nation."
"I don’t want lobbyists. I don’t want special interests.”
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/interest ... d=46909846
250 donors shelled out $100k or more for Trump’s inauguration, providing 91% of funds.
President Trump raised $107 million for his inaugural festivities, shattering previous records.
The former titleholder, Barack Obama, raised half that, $53.2 million, in 2009 — though Obama imposed far stricter limits on amounts and sources of donations.
At least 47 people or organizations gave $1 million or more to the Trump welcome wagon, and more than 250 gave $100,000 and above; those 250 provided 91 percent of the inaugural committee’s funds.
Obama had 82 six-figure donors in 2013, and four that hit $1 million.
To see all donors who gave more than $100,000 for this year and past inaugurations, view the data here.
Small donors didn’t play much of a role in funding the party: Trump collected just $653,602 from people giving $200 or less.
By contrast, in 2013 Obama collected nearly $4.6 million in such contributions.