Former President Donald Trump blasted the New York Times on Monday, accusing it of a “one-sided attack piece” after it reported his campaign duped supporters into making repeat donations.
Instead, the 45th chief executive said his fans were so supportive they gave again and again and that his campaign was quick to make refunds “in certain cases where they would give too much.”
“In yet another highly partisan story, the failing New York Times wrote a completely misleading, one-sided attack piece this weekend that tried to disparage our record-setting grassroots fundraising operation during the 2020 campaign,” he said. “Except for massive voter fraud, this was a campaign that was easily won by your favorite Republican president, me!”
Trump remains banned by social media platforms for misleading and provocative claims made in the wake of the 2020 election. Instead, the statement was emailed by his Save America political action committee.
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It came in response to a story published by the newspaper over the weekend. It detailed how his campaign and the Republican National Committee refunded $64.3 million to online donors in the last two and a half months of last year — more than 10 times the amount refunded by his opponent, now-President Joe Biden.
Many online donors complained that they had not realized they needed to uncheck a box if they were making a one-off payment rather than setting up a recurring donation.
Consumer protection advocates said the practice was unethical.
But Trump insisted the overall return rate was less than 1% of online donations, contending his strategy was not without precedent.
“We learned from liberal ActBlue – and now we’re better than they are,” he said. “In fact, many people were so enthusiastic that they gave over and over, and in certain cases where they would give too much, we would promptly refund their contributions.”
He accused the newspaper of burying these details in its story.
“Our fundraising efforts, working together with the Republican party, were all done legally, and all with the goal of ensuring that my administration could continue to Make America Great Again,” he said.
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“The election on the other hand, was massively rigged and stolen – and now look what is happening to our country, and in particular at our southern border.”
