[csusbpeace] Trump Spawned a New Group of Mega-Donors Who Now Hold Sway Over the GOP’s Future

From: "raccoon" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "bigraccoon1" for DMARC)
To: "CSUSBPEACE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <CSUSBPEACE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 10 May 2021 08:51:31 -0700

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-spawned-a-new-group-of-mega-donors-who-now-hold-sway-over-gops-future?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=river-links

<https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-spawned-a-new-group-of-mega-donors-who-now-hold-sway-over-gops-future?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=river-links>

Trump Spawned a New Group of Mega-Donors Who Now Hold Sway Over the GOP’s
Future

These powerful donors, who each contributed more than $1 million, shied away
from party politics before Trump. What brought them off the sidelines?

May 6

Former President Donald Trump delivers the keynote address at the annual
Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb 28. David Butow/Redux
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up
to receive our biggest stories
<https://www.propublica.org/newsletters/the-big-story?source=www.propublica.org&placement=top-note&region=national>
as soon as they’re published.

Wesley Barnett was just as surprised as anyone to learn from news reports
<https://www.wsj.com/articles/jan-6-rally-funded-by-top-trump-donor-helped-by-alex-jones-organizers-say-11612012063/>
that the Jan. 6 Trump rally that turned into a violent assault on the U.S.
Capitol was funded by Julia Jenkins Fancelli, an heiress to the fortune of
the popular Publix supermarket chain. But Barnett had extra cause for being
startled: Fancelli is his aunt.

Barnett said he was at a loss to explain how his aunt — who isn’t on social
media, lives part time in Italy and keeps a low profile in their central
Florida town — got mixed up with the likes of Alex Jones and Ali Alexander,
the right-wing provocateurs who were VIPs at the Jan. 6 rally in front of the
White House.

Over the last five years, it has become clear that former President Donald
Trump has activated a new set of mega-donors who were not previously big
spenders in national politics. Some of the donors appear to share the more
extreme views of many Trump supporters, based on social media posts promoting
falsehoods about election fraud or masks and vaccines. Whether they will
deepen their involvement or step back, and whether their giving will extend
to candidates beyond Trump, will have an outsized role in steering the future
of the Republican Party and even American democracy.

ProPublica identified 29 people and couples who increased their political
contributions at least tenfold since 2015, based on an analysis of Federal
Election Commission records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
The donors in the table below gave at least $1 million to Trump and the GOP
after previously having spent less than $1 million total. Most of the
donations went to super PACs supporting Trump or to the Trump Victory joint
fundraising vehicle that spread the money among his campaign and party
committees.

MAGA Money
These donors each contributed more than $1 million to Trump and other
Republicans since 2015, at least a tenfold increase from their prior
political giving. The names of both people in a couple are shown if they each
donated in their own names; the description applies to the first person named
unless otherwise stated.
Source: Federal Election Commission, Center for Responsive Politics,
ProPublica reporting Chart by Moiz Syed
In the current system of porous campaign finance rules and lax enforcement, a
handful of ultra-rich people can have dramatic influence
<https://www.issueone.org/outsized-influence-12-political-megadonors-are-responsible-for-1-of-every-13-in-federal-elections-since-citizens-united-and-25-of-all-giving-from-the-top-100-zip-codes-a-total-of-3-4-bil/>
on national campaigns. Many of Trump’s biggest backers, such as the late
casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, or the Illinois
packaging tycoons Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, aren’t shown in ProPublica’s
analysis because they gave millions to Republicans even before Trump. But
several of the biggest new donors — banking scion Timothy Mellon and his
wife, Patricia; Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter and his wife,
Laura; and Dallas pipeline billionaire Kelcy Warren and his wife, Amy — now
rank among such better-known, longer-running donors as Blackstone CEO Stephen
Schwarzman, professional wrestling founders Linda and Vince McMahon, and
casino mogul Steve Wynn.

For some new donors, the sudden increase in their political contributions may
have as much to do with newly acquired wealth as with the ascent of Trump and
his grip on the Republican Party. But others inherited fortunes or made them
long ago, yet never made a splash in campaign finance records until now.
Several of the donors have not spoken publicly about their support for Trump
or have not been extensively covered before. ProPublica requested interviews
with everyone named in this article and included comments from those who
responded.

“Things are diametrically different from when Trump was in office,” Marlyne
Sexton, who has given more than $2 million since 2015 after giving less than
$115,000 before, said in a phone interview. Sexton, whose husband runs an
Indianapolis-based property management company
<https://www.sextonproperties.com/>, attended a dinner
<https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2019/05/16/what-dianne-feinsteins-phone-told-us-437020>
with Trump in 2019, Politico reported.

“People are afraid to walk down the street, it’s a joke,” Sexton continued.
Asked why people were afraid, she said, “You can answer that for yourself,
and if you can’t then we probably don’t agree. I can’t help you understand
that.”

Big Lie Believers: Julia Fancelli and Gregory Fancelli

In addition to pledging $300,000 to fund
<https://www.wsj.com/articles/jan-6-rally-funded-by-top-trump-donor-helped-by-alex-jones-organizers-say-11612012063/>
the Jan. 6 rally in Washington, Julia Fancelli actually had a hotel suite
reserved, according to organizers who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
But in the end she did not attend, according to Caroline Wren, a Trump
fundraiser involved in the planning.

Fancelli did not respond to requests for an interview, including one placed
through the office of her family’s foundation. Her estate manager, Schuyler
Long, who also donated to Trump, declined to comment. In a statement to The
Wall Street Journal, which first reported her involvement in the Jan. 6
rally, Fancelli said: “I am a proud conservative and have real concerns
associated with election integrity, yet I would never support any violence,
particularly the tragic and horrific events that unfolded.”

Publix distanced itself from Fancelli, whose father, George Jenkins, founded
the chain. The company said
<https://twitter.com/Publix/status/1355677088376893445> she isn’t involved in
operations and doesn’t “represent the company in any way.” Fancelli’s
holdings in the privately held company aren’t known and she is not listed in
financial disclosures
<http://www.publixstockholder.com/financial-information-and-filings/sec-filings/sec-document/923fd094fbac4db8b96947545d7a0c12/html>
as an owner of 5% or more of the company’s stock.

Forbes has estimated
<https://www.forbes.com/profile/jenkins/?sh=4191720f60e8> the entire Jenkins
family’s wealth at $8.8 billion, ranking 39th in the country. Fancelli served
as president of the family’s foundation as of 2019, according to the
organization’s most recent tax filing
<https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/593753198/10_2020_prefixes_58-61%2F593753198_201912_990PR_2020100817359311>.
In addition to nonpolitical charities, the foundation also made a $30,000
grant to the Leadership Institute, which trains conservative activists.

Fancelli grew up with the rest of the Jenkins clan in Lakeland, Florida, and
met her husband Mauro, a fruit and vegetable wholesaler
<https://www.nytimes.com/1972/12/31/archives/mauro-fancelli-weds-julie-ansley-jenkins.html>,
on a study abroad year in Florence, the local newspaper reported in 2018
<https://www.theledger.com/news/20181126/publix-mosaics-see-new-life-in-lakeland>.
Though the Jenkins family is prominent in Lakeland, Fancelli is not
civically engaged and lives for much of the year in Italy.

I am a proud conservative and have real concerns associated with election
integrity, yet I would never support any violence, particularly the tragic
and horrific events that unfolded.
—Julia Jenkins Fancelli, in a statement to The Wall Street Journal, about the
Jan. 6 rally she helped fund
In past elections, she generally gave a few thousand dollars at a time to the
Republican National Committee and GOP congressional candidates, amounting to
less than $200,000 total, according to FEC records. Her contributions took
off starting in 2016. Since then she’s given more than $2 million. Besides
backing Trump, she was the largest donor to a super PAC
<https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=C00759316&cycle=2020>supporting
Michigan Republican Eric Esshaki, who lost to Rep. Haley Stevens.

Fancelli’s donations to Trump drew some notice
<https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/publix-jenkins-family-heirs-are-donating-to-trumps-2020-campaign-11238481>.
But until the Jan. 6 rally, the most news she made was for being a theft
victim: In December 2020, a murder suspect stole three pieces
<https://www.theledger.com/story/news/regional/2020/12/09/details-emerge-burglary-publix-heiress-home-alleged-killer/6497452002/>
of a silver tea set through the window of Fancelli’s modest house.

Fancelli’s son, Gregory, accompanied her to a Trump campaign luncheon in Palm
Beach in 2019 and donated in his own name. “My mother and I are big
supporters of the president,” he told a local reporter in October.

Unlike his mom, Gregory Fancelli is active in the Lakeland community. He
works on restoring local houses
<https://www.theledger.com/news/20190529/restoration-aims-to-return-house-to-1920s-look>
and mosaics
<https://www.theledger.com/news/20181126/publix-mosaics-see-new-life-in-lakeland>,
as well as a planetarium designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the last with the
help of a grant
<https://www.flsouthern.edu/news/recent/2020/general/u-s-funds-250-000-restoration-of-world-s-only-fr.aspx>
from the National Park Service in August 2020. He has donated money to a
school board candidate through shell companies
<https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:DO-plo0Fh6EJ:https://www.theledger.com/news/20161031/some-unusual-characters-contribute-money-to-school-board-district-1-race+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us>named
after fictional characters such as Tony Stark (better known as Iron Man) and
a Ghostbuster, Peter Venkman.

He also occasionally posts online about politics, and in the months after
Trump lost the election, his views appeared to harden. On Christmas Day in
2020, Fancelli said on Facebook that COVID-19 was a “fake pandemic” and
argued with Facebook friends who referenced case numbers and people they
personally knew who died of the coronavirus. “It doesn’t have the magnitude
of a pandemic, unless you combine all the illnesses and flues and give it one
name,” Fancelli wrote. “Definitely a very powerful scare tactic by the
Chinese and the UN.”

In other posts, Fancelli appeared to embrace Trump’s rhetoric calling
President Joe Biden soft on China and falsely claiming that the election was
stolen. In March, Fancelli posted a video mocking Biden for tripping on the
stairs to board Air Force One, mashing up the footage with video of Trump
hitting a golf ball. To a friend who commented “Fore more years!” Fancelli
replied, “Fore more years of chinese puppetry!”

Another friend commented, “80 million people voted for this?” Fancelli
replied, “Some people voted for him, the rest is fraud.”

Gregory Fancelli declined to be interviewed.

Online Conspiracy Theorists: Leila Centner, Michael and Caryn Borland

David and Leila Centner have never spoken publicly about their support for
Trump and hadn't made a political donation (except two that were refunded in
2018) until they gave a combined $1 million to support Trump’s 2020 campaign.
Come Jan. 6, the Miami couple were VIP guests at the rally on the Ellipse,
according to organizers. The couple declined to comment through a
spokesperson.

David Centner started and sold several successful web businesses, then made a
fortune on a company that processed highway tolls. In 2019, taking advantage
of a provision in Trump’s tax bill, the Centners reportedly invested
<https://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2019/03/25/centner-rbh-group-proposes-teachers-village.html>
$40 million in a fund to build affordable housing for teachers. The tax
incentive, known as Opportunity Zones, was intended to entice investors into
developing poorer neighborhoods. But many wealthy and well-connected people
have found
<https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-one-trump-tax-cut-meant-to-help-the-poor-a-billionaire-ended-up-winning-big>
ways
<https://www.propublica.org/article/how-a-tax-break-to-help-the-poor-went-to-nba-owner-dan-gilbert>
to use it
<https://www.propublica.org/article/superyacht-marina-west-palm-beach-opportunity-zone-trump-tax-break-to-help-the-poor-went-to-a-rich-gop-donor>
to subsidize their preexisting projects
<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/31/business/tax-opportunity-zones.html>.

After not being able to find a school that felt right for their daughter, the
Centners started their own, the brightly colored Centner Academy in Miami’s
Design District.

Some school parents objected when Leila Centner used the building to host a
campaign event for a conservative mayoral candidate. According to emails
quoted in the Miami New Times
<https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/miami-dades-centner-academy-hosting-political-event-for-esteban-bovo-11723102>,
Centner responded to their concerns by saying, “Please do not tell me what
types of events I can host in my own building after hours.”

In January, the school hosted an event with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
<http://www.soulofmiami.org/2021/01/23/a-talk-with-robert-f-kennedy-jr-how-to-find-common-ground-unite-1-28-21/>,
the prominent antivaccine activist. David Centner introduced him as his
“hero” and “personal inspiration,” according to a video
<https://vimeopro.com/godfatherfilms/david-and-leila-centner-foundation/video/508181293>
of Kennedy’s talk.

David Centner, left, and Leila Centner pose with antivaccine activist Robert
F. Kennedy at an event in January.
In April, Centner instructed school employees not to get the COVID-19
vaccine. In a message
<https://centneracademy.myschoolapp.com/podium/push/default.aspx?i=202859&s=1710&snd=4c1d8cc6-250b-4a3f-8798-efc6bcd0e47a>
to faculty and staff, she falsely claimed the vaccines don’t prevent death
or transmission of the disease, despite trials and research showing they do.
She also cited a baseless conspiracy theory
<https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-covid19vaccine-reproductivepro-idUSL1N2MG256>
that merely being around other vaccinated people can cause reproductive
problems in women.

“We cannot allow recently vaccinated people to be near our students until
more information is known,” Centner said in the message to staff. She told
employees who wished to get the vaccine that they should wait until the end
of the school year and that they might not be allowed to return to their jobs.

Centner’s Facebook and Instagram posts are filled with misinformation urging
people not to wear masks or get a COVID-19 vaccine. She falsely claimed that
the media has covered up vaccine side effects ranging from rashes to death.
She also has posted attacks on the nation’s top infectious disease adviser,
Dr. Anthony Fauci, as well as drug companies and other doctors. She has cited
debunked studies claiming masks harm children and compared face coverings to
the yellow stars that the Nazis ordered Jews to wear. Years ago, she posted a
video — now covered by a fact-checking warning — about testing bottled water
for pH levels and fluoride.

Centner is slated to speak next month at a “mask-free, freedom-fighting”
conference featuring Trump adviser Roger Stone, former national security
adviser Michael Flynn and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.

We cannot allow recently vaccinated people to be near our students until more
information is known.
—Leila Centner, in a message saying that Centner Academy employees who get
vaccinated might lose their jobs
Centner is not the only major new Trump donor who has promoted conspiracy
theories. Michael and Caryn Borland of Newport Beach, California, have given
a total of about $1.6 million since 2015. In the past they’d given less than
$13,000. With their new high-roller status, they were guests at the 2020 GOP
convention. Then-Vice President Mike Pence canceled
<https://apnews.com/article/elections-bozeman-election-2020-montana-only-on-ap-35a881fb3e95ff8421efe57d05a5c374>
a planned fundraiser at the Borlands’ Montana home after the Associated
Press reported
<https://apnews.com/article/kimberly-guilfoyle-media-social-media-election-2020-montana-8e610effec6e294be01f25035393b6b9>
that the would-be hosts shared QAnon memes on Facebook and Twitter. The
posts are no longer available.

“This is not a forum for politics,” Caryn Borland, a singer-songwriter of
Christian music <https://www.cui.edu/arts/music/supporting-the-music>, later
posted on her Facebook page. “Whether they be my opinions or anyone else’s.
If you express any political opinions on this page they will be taken down
immediately.” The couple didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The Borlands met while working in a grocery store and started a modest life
together, according to David Wood, a film producer who worked with them on an
ill-fated project. Then they inherited a fortune on Caryn’s side, Wood said.
Her father was an executive of a California-based industrial materials
company
<https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/Document/RetrievePDF?Id=01217931-6668956>
in the 1980s, according to corporate records, and court filings indicate that
she has a multimillion-dollar trust in her maiden name. The trust’s holdings
include land assessed at $1.6 million in Arizona, according to tax records
<https://taxinquiry.yavapai.us/Reporting/TaxBill?parcelNumber=10820081A0&taxYear=2020>.

“They were not even middle class, then they inherited a massive fortune,”
said Wood, who received a $10 million check
<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20691600-17712191721-11> from the
trust for the film project in 2019. Amid a lawsuit
<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20691596-17712302581-20>, he agreed
to return $4 million, according to court papers
<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20691612-17954643261-17>. “I don’t
think they were completely prepared for it,” Wood said. “I don’t know if
anyone would be.”

Business Benefits: Kelcy Warren, Roger Norman, Palmer Luckey

Some of the biggest new donors are less outspoken about their ideologies but
gained tangible benefits from Trump’s presidency.

Dallas billionaire Kelcy Warren welcomed the impact he anticipated Trump
would have on his company, Energy Transfer Partners, which operates the
Dakota Access Pipeline. Two days after the 2016 election, he told investors,
“Having a government that actually backs up what they say, that we’re going
to support infrastructure, we’re going to support job creation, we’re going
to support growth in America, and then actually does it? My God, this is
going to be refreshing.”

On Trump’s fourth full day in office, he signed an executive order to help
clear the way for the Dakota Access Pipeline, a thousand-mile link to North
Dakota’s oil fields. Energy Transfer’s stock price soared, and Warren’s
wealth climbed from $2.8 billion to $4.5 billion, according to Forbes
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/noahkirsch/2017/03/22/dakota-access-pipeline-billionaire-net-worth-nearly-tripled-despite-standing-rock/?sh=24c8be91a1cb>.
The magazine said the percentage gain was bigger than that of any other
American that year.

The Dakota Access Pipeline became a high-profile controversy in 2016 when
environmentalists and Native Americans rallied to the support of the local
Standing Rock Sioux, who raised concerns that the pipeline would endanger
their drinking water. With Trump’s support, the pipeline was completed in
April 2017 and started shipping oil the next month. But legal challenges
continued, and a federal court in Washington eventually held
<https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/3FEF9DA2426A19048525866900562121/$file/20-5197-1881818.pdf>
that the Trump administration cut corners on the required environmental
reviews.

Having a government that actually backs up what they say, that we’re going to
support infrastructure, we’re going to support job creation, we’re going to
support growth in America, and then actually does it? My God, this is going
to be refreshing.”
—Kelcy Warren, on Trump’s 2016 election
Warren’s company is now trying to convince a judge not to shut down the
pipeline, arguing in an April court filing
<https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.180660/gov.uscourts.dcd.180660.593.0_1.pdf>
that the company stands to lose as much as $4.28 million a day. Some
Democrats are calling on Biden to close the pipeline, but the current White
House hasn’t taken a position.

Warren and his wife are prominent philanthropists in Dallas (they developed a
downtown park and named it after their son). But they were not major
political donors until Trump came along, having spent less than $600,000 in
total. Since 2015, however, they’ve given more than $17 million. Warren
declined to comment through a company spokesperson.

Another first-time mega-donor who benefited from Trump’s actions was Roger
Norman, a reclusive real estate investor in Reno, Nevada. In his first-ever
interview <https://www.ktvn.com/story/38044460/the-man-behind-tric>, with a
Reno TV news station in 2018, Norman recounted making and losing fortunes
several times over, despite never learning to read or write.

Norman’s crown jewel is the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center, 104,000 acres of
desert that he and his partners bought for $20 million in 1998. Today it’s
worth billions after becoming a hub for companies including Tesla, Google and
Switch.

The site benefited from the Opportunity Zone program in Trump’s tax bill,
thanks to some influential friends. As The Washington Post reported in 2018
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/after-nevada-gop-push-treasury-quietly-changed-policy-benefiting-one-county/2018/06/22/d142acfc-74c5-11e8-b4b7-308400242c2e_story.html?noredirect=on>,
Treasury officials originally decided the area was too prosperous to qualify
for the benefit. But Norman’s business partner recruited Nevada Republicans,
including the governor and a senator, to lobby for the designation.

Norman then gave more than $2 million to support Trump’s reelection, compared
to the less than $100,000 in total political contributions he’d made in the
past. “You’re a little late to that story, I’m not donating anything now,”
Norman said in a brief phone conversation, declining to discuss the matter
further.

Another new mega-donor turned a professional setback arising from his support
for Trump into a new opportunity. Palmer Luckey built a prototype for a
virtual reality headset as a teenager and sold his company, Oculus VR, to
Facebook for $2 billion in 2014. Forbes estimated
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidewalt/2015/01/05/palmer-luckey-oculus-rift-vr/?sh=289c67b3249b>
the 21-year-old’s cut at more than $500 million.

Luckey has credited Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal” with inspiring him at
age 13, according to The Wall Street Journal
<https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-did-facebook-fire-a-top-executive-hint-it-had-something-to-do-with-trump-1541965245>,
and he sent Trump a letter in 2011 encouraging him to run for president.
During the 2016 campaign, Luckey donated $10,000
<https://www.thedailybeast.com/palmer-luckey-the-facebook-near-billionaire-secretly-funding-trumps-meme-machine>
to Nimble America, a pro-Trump group associated with misogynistic and
white-supremacist online posts. Luckey has given conflicting accounts of
whether he wrote some of the messages under a pseudonym. After an internal
uproar at Facebook, the company placed Luckey on leave and fired him in 2017,
the Journal reported.

Luckey deepened his political activism, expanding his giving and hosting a
fundraiser for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. He started a new company, Anduril,
that would cater directly to the Trump administration by making security
technology for the southern border. The company raised $200 million
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/01/silicon-valley-tech-start-up-anduril-raises-200-million-create-software-driven-defense-company/>
from investors and won government contracts
<https://www.usaspending.gov/recipient/7d83c408-4ca7-dd2f-399c-36d7ed50439a-P/all>
totaling almost $100 million.

Luckey didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Luckey’s sister, Ginger Luckey, is engaged
<https://pagesix.com/2021/01/04/inside-matt-gaetzs-courtship-with-fiancee-ginger-luckey/>
to Matt Gaetz, the embattled
<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/01/us/politics/matt-gaetz-justice-department.html>
Florida congressman and Trump ally. Their mother, Julie Luckey, who
home-schooled Palmer, was slated to be a VIP guest for the Jan. 6 rally. It’s
not clear if she attended. She didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Government Posts: Ike Perlmutter, Duke Buchan, Lynda Blanchard

Duke Buchan, a wealthy but little-known Wall Street investor, wasn’t shy
about coveting an ambassadorship after he and his wife gave the Trump Victory
fund almost $450,000 each, the maximum amount allowable by federal campaign
finance laws in 2016. One of the last vestiges of the spoils system, cushy
diplomatic posts routinely go to campaign patrons. Buchan and his wife, joint
donor Hannah Flournoy Buchan, declined to comment.

Buchan told friends that he viewed Trump as a disrupter and cheered the
candidate’s attacks on political correctness, looking forward to saying
“Merry Christmas” again, The New York Times reported
<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/business/dealbook/an-early-trump-backer-awaits-his-reward.html>
in 2017. Buchan was rewarded with an appointment as ambassador to Spain,
where he had studied abroad
<https://www.concordia.net/community/richard-duke-buchan-iii/> decades
earlier. He reportedly complained
<https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/13/trump-ambassadors-impeachment-044039>
that European Union regulations scuttled his plans to bring his polo ponies
along. While in office, Buchan took part in
<https://es.usembassy.gov/ambassador-duke-buchan-iii-op-ed-now-is-the-time-for-transition-in-venezuela/>
the Trump administration’s controversial efforts to oust Venezuelan
president Nicolás Maduro.

While ambassadorships are common rewards for big donors, Lynda Blanchard was
unusually blunt about it. According to a person familiar with her appointment
who asked not to be named in connection with the discussions, Blanchard
explicitly reminded transition officials how much she donated. She and her
husband gave more than $2 million to Republicans between 2015 and 2018, when
Trump nominated her as ambassador to Slovenia, Melania Trump’s native
country. Blanchard didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Blanchard, who founded a real estate investment firm, is now staking millions
on her own candidacy for U.S. Senate in Alabama. She held a fundraiser at
Mar-a-Lago in March with a surprise appearance from Trump
<https://www.al.com/politics/2021/03/trump-makes-surprise-visit-at-alabama-senate-candidates-florida-fundraiser.html>,
but then he endorsed her rival: Rep. Mo Brooks, one of the leaders of the
congressional effort to overturn the 2020 election results.

One new Trump-era mega-donor was rewarded with a less-conventional role in
his administration. Ike Perlmutter, the Marvel Entertainment chairman who was
one of Trump’s largest overall backers and belongs to his Mar-a-Lago club,
became an unofficial yet influential adviser on veterans issues. As
ProPublica first reported in 2018, Trump gave Perlmutter and two associates
sweeping influence
<https://www.propublica.org/article/ike-perlmutter-bruce-moskowitz-marc-sherman-shadow-rulers-of-the-va>
over the Department of Veterans Affairs. They had a hand in policy and
personnel decisions, even reviewing budgets and contracts
<https://www.propublica.org/article/va-shadow-rulers-had-sway-over-contracting-and-budgeting>.

Perlmutter, who declined to be interviewed for this article, has said he had
no formal authority and sought no personal gain.

A liberal veterans group, VoteVets, sued the VA over Perlmutter’s role,
alleging that it violated a Watergate-era sunshine law. In March, an appeals
court said the case could proceed
<https://twitter.com/iarnsdorf/status/1377260787715149827?s=20>.

Personal Ties: Anthony Lomangino, Steve Witkoff, Vernon Hill

Though Perlmutter, 78, was drawn in by his personal relationship with Trump,
he has become a bigger force in Florida Republican politics. Before backing
Trump, he and his wife gave $2 million to a super PAC supporting
then-presidential candidate Marco Rubio, and more recently he’s become a
major benefactor of Gov. Ron DeSantis, widely considered a leading contender
for the party’s 2024 presidential nomination if Trump doesn’t run.

For other new mega-donors who got involved because of their personal ties to
Trump, it’s less clear if their support will extend to other candidates.

Fellow Mar-a-Lago member Anthony Lomangino and his wife have given more than
$3 million, plus $150,000 to help aides cover legal fees arising from the
Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. They had previously given less than
$40,000 total. Lomangino, whose wealth derives from selling a
recycling-collection company to industry giant Waste Management, declined to
comment.

Vernon Hill, Trump’s sometime banker and golf buddy, gave more than $2
million, 10 times more than he’d ever given before. In 2020 he praised the
federal government’s small business relief program, which his bank, like many
others, helped administer. Hill didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Steven Witkoff, a New York real estate friend, gave more than $2 million and
served as an informal adviser on tax cuts, opioids and reopening businesses
during the pandemic. He has also since become a DeSantis backer
<https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/16/desantis-trump-gop-donors-481891>.
Witkoff didn’t respond to requests for comment.

John McCall, the business partner
<https://farouk.com/about-us/executive-team/> of Trump’s friend and purported
hairspray supplier
<https://nypost.com/2016/01/03/hairdressers-reveal-the-secrets-of-donald-trumps-hair/>
Farouk Shami, gave $1.7 million to Trump and the GOP since 2015, versus less
than $20,000 previously. McCall didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Do You Have a Tip for ProPublica? Help Us Do Journalism.
Got a story we should hear? Are you down to be a background source on a story
about your workplace, your community, your schools or your justice system?
Get in touch.
Expand

[csusbpeace] Trump Spawned a New Group of Mega-Donors Who Now Hold Sway Over the GOP’s Future

Other related posts: