A super PAC led by Donald Trump’s former senior adviser mysteriously went silent Tuesday.
Less than two weeks after Republican strategist Roger Stone launched the Committee to Restore America’s Greatness PAC, which had no affiliation to Trump’s presidential campaign, but aimed to target his leading Republican rivals, a website for the outside group states the PAC is “offline.”
Asked about the status of the PAC, Stone said it would resume fundraising on Jan. 1, following the completion of certain changes.
“The site is being revised to reflect recent developments,” he wrote in an email to the Washington Examiner.
Stone later said such developments include the rollout of anti-Trump attack ads by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s New Day for America PAC, and the “very real possibility of a brokered convention if Trump does not sweep the primaries but goes to the [Republican National] Convention with the largest block of delegates.” He declined to get specific when asked how the PAC’s priorities and operation might change in the wake of those developments.
The PAC’s offline status comes after Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski labeled it a “big-league scam deal” when it debuted on Dec. 17.
“These guys are scam artists doing it for their own personal benefit and seeking to profiteer off Trump’s name. People should not give to this or any other super-PAC claiming to support Donald Trump for president,” Lewandowski said at the time.
He also claimed the campaign sent a cease and desist letter to the PAC in early October, shortly after Stone filed a statement of organization with the Federal Election Commission. At the time, the PAC was named “Americans for Trump,” though FEC rules require candidates to authorize the use of their names by outside groups.
Stone said his group would work solely to “educate voters on the records of [Marco] Rubio and Chris Christie,” who currently pose the biggest threat to Trump’s success in the fast-approaching New Hampshire primary, while avoiding the development of any pro-Trump advertisements.
However, Trump has repeatedly disavowed all outside groups operating to his benefit.
“I am self-funding my campaign, and therefore I will not be controlled by the donors, special interests and lobbyists who have corrupted our politics and politicians for far too long,” he said in late October.
Lewandowski did not return the Examiner’s request for comment.
