Crate & Barrel But now, the refunds are essentially zero, raising the prospect of the former president’s campaign once again stretching the bounds of campaign finance law to inflate his war chest—and the public’s impressions of his political strength. On paper, Trump’s refund rate is virtually impossible. His campaign has not solved this persistent problem of overpayments. His donors are, in fact, breaking the donation limits—dozens and dozens of them, according to the notices that the FEC sent his campaign after every 2023 filing. So how exactly has the Trump campaign found a way to make the refunds disappear? That question arrives at a sensitive political moment, as numerous news reports pillory the Trump operation for its breakneck spending amid an alarmingly bleak fundraising outlook. While no one on Trump’s campaign would answer these questions for The Daily Beast—either on the record or on background—there are clues in the campaign’s responses to the FEC’s notices. In those replies, Trump campaign treasurer Bradley Crate acknowledges the excessive donations. He states that the money has since been “returned” to an affiliated committee, which will be “reflected on a subsequent [campaign] report.” Pass that joint Crate’s answer, it seems, is that the Trump campaign is forwarding the excessive amounts to other political accounts, potentially raising a host of other issues. But his explanation, as written, doesn’t seem explicitly true—at least not at the moment. According to FEC data, the 2024 Trump campaign has never reported sending any money to that affiliated committee, a joint fundraising committee (JFC) called “Trump Save America.” And that committee’s refund rate also appears low—a total $150,000 out of $129 million raised. By comparison, Haley’s JFC refunded roughly $115,000 while raising $20 million. (In 2022, Trump’s JFC returned $42,000, and just $2,500 the year before.) Mathemagicians Excessive donations are a common issue for all campaigns. Trump’s top primary opponents forked over hundreds of thousands of dollars, even while raising less money than the former president. Ron DeSantis’ failed presidential campaign kicked back about $535,000, and Haley’s campaign returned more than $260,000. Even dropouts like Tim Scott ($44,000), Chris Christie ($11,000), and Mike Pence ($9,600) all showed higher refunds despite dramatically lagging Trump in fundraising, combined. And the campaign for longshot independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent about $485,000 back to his donors, disclosures show. Typically, if a donor gives a campaign too much money, the campaign refunds the excess amount to the person, reporting it later in FEC filings. But when a donor gives too much to the Trump campaign through this joint committee, the campaign does not refund that person. Instead, The Daily Beast’s analysis of FEC data indicates that some reports appear to have simply vanished the original excessive amount altogether, even though the new amended filings show the exact same bottom line totals, down to the penny. In short, the arrangement appears to swap out the refund process with a new batch of donations. It clearly requires more work behind closed doors, but the bottom lines remain the same, and at least to that end, it all comes out in the wash, so to speak. Notably, the maneuvering also appears to demand at least some degree of misrepresentation to the FEC, if not outright lying—specifically, the treasurer’s written statements that the campaign had “returned” the money when its reports show no such transactions. Screen pass Jordan Libowitz, communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told The Daily Beast that excessive donations shouldn’t be a huge problem to begin with, because JFCs typically pre-screen donations for potential limit-breakers. “The way this is supposed to work is that the JFC checks for excessive contributions, and with written approval, rebalances the percentages on an excessive contribution to keep it from being excessive,” Libowitz explained, citing FEC rules. Refunds are typically easy to resolve, through processes the FEC lays out on its website. The rules appear equally clear that all committees must disclose their refunds, regardless of amount. “What the Trump campaign appears to have done is said ‘money is fungible,’” Libowitz said. “You cannot take $9,900 from one donor and $3,300 from another and claim to have taken $6,600 from each.” The political stakes But it’s not just a disclosure issue either; campaign refunds also happen to provide an important political metric. High refund rates can signal potential donor burnout, a financial clue that a campaign has maxed out most of its reliable supporters and might be in danger of going into the red if it can’t find other funding sources. This was the case with the Trump campaign in 2020, when a number of news reports identified small-dollar donor burnout as a problem. Combined with reportedly lavish spending, that left the Trump operation with a massive cash deficit against Biden just ahead of the election. Today, both Trump and Biden are feeling the pinch—part of a national downward trend that Politico dubbed a “political recession.” But of the two campaigns, Trump’s operation appears to have been hit hardest. Recent reports have raised alarms about Trump’s runaway legal spending and drooping donations, sparking internal concerns about whether Trump can sustain the necessary financial support through the election. However, if a campaign doesn’t report refunds, those potential weaknesses are harder to calculate—and harder to report.
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