Trump's Campaign Looks to Stop Fraudulent "Dinner With Trump" PAC

Donald Trump at CPAC (flickr/Gage Skidmore)

Thieves and cons hate competition, apparently.

The Dinner with Trump scam that I wrote about yesterday may be coming to an end. On the same day that POLITICO busted the story open, the Trump campaign sent a cease-and-desist letter to the PAC.

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Trump’s campaign also sent a letter to the Federal Election Commission, the nation’s election watchdog agency, disavowing the super PAC on the same day POLITICO revealed that the group had raised more than $1 million from 20,000 donors in less than three months.

“You are knowingly defrauding every person who gives you his or her email address or who makes a donation through your unauthorized website,” reads a letter from Trump’s campaign attorney, Donald McGahn, to the super PAC.

While the duped donors are huffing and puffing, Ian Hawes, the creator of American Horizons PAC considers it “pure chance” that they mistakenly gave to his PAC, under the assumption of donating to Trump.

After all, it used Trump’s name, Trump’s picture, and the site was designed to look very much like Trump’s official site. Easy mistake to make, I’m sure. You’ve got to read the fine print.

In its letter to the FEC, Trump’s campaign said it was “concerned about the likelihood of confusion among the public” because of the super PAC’s use of “Trump’s name, image, likeness, or slogans in connection with soliciting contributions and conducting other activities.”

Trump’s campaign has been running its own dinner promotion at donaldjtrump.com, his official website.

Yeah. Read the fine print on that one, too. All those others lost was money. With this one, we lose our country.

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Trump’s campaign is threatening legal action if Hawes’ organization continues on with their fraudulent contest.

Hawes, however, insists that it was not a scam. The fine print reveals that there is actually a chance to receive two tickets to a fund raising event that one of their sponsors selects.

In a letter to POLITICO, Hawes sought to draw a parallel between himself and Trump. Like Trump, Hawes is the victim, of course.

“Like Mr. Trump, I’m not a political insider. My occupation is in digital marketing. After the primaries, I felt a calling (like hundreds of thousands of others) to help Mr. Trump’s campaign,” Hawes’ rebuttal said. “American Horizons is one of the largest pro-Trump political action committees this cycle. It’s no wonder Politico saw us as a threat.”

Given Trump’s love of Yes-men and inability to let reason get in the way of flattery, should he get wind of this, he’ll likely make Hawes part of his cabinet.

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