A US federal grand jury is reportedly seeking information about Donald Trump’s Save America leadership Political Action Committee (PAC) as investigations into the former American president continue to expand.
ABC News reported that subpoenas issued in recent weeks have asked recipients about the PAC’s formation, its fundraising activities and its spending.
Mr Trump is now the subject of numerous ongoing federal and state investigations, including several probing his role in the January 6 2021 attack on the US 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.
The former president aggressively fundraised following the 2020 election, capitalising on his supporters’ anger about his defeat by Joe Biden and their refusal to accept it.
During its hearings, the US house committee investigating the January 6 attack said Mr Trump’s fundraising machine had collected some 250 million dollars (£217 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 January 6 insurrection.
“Not only was there the big lie, there was the big rip-off,” representative Zoe Lofgren said of these efforts.
No credible evidence has emerged to support Mr Trump’s claims that the election was marred by mass fraud.
Numerous state and local elections officials, including Mr Trump’s own attorney general and judges he appointed, have also rejected such claims.
Mr 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 in July with just under 100 million dollars (£87 million) cash-on-hand, according to US government filings.
