The week
The Trump campaign used “dizzyingly complex” pre-checked boxes to raise recurring donations when finances were dwindling
Despite deteriorating finances, last year’s Trump campaign managed to stay afloat at the most important time of 2020, thanks in part to an interest-free loan from ignorant supporters [presidential] Race, “a New York Times investigation found. Reporter Shane Goldmacher writes that the campaign used pre-checked boxes that became” dizzyingly complex “with the deterioration in finances. If donors missed the fine print, they believed they were one-time donations processed recurring weekly. Another pre-checked checkbox automatically added cash to the amount shown. This graphic shows the impact of these pre-checked checkboxes on Trump’s refund rate. https://t.co/vu10yWJaEs pic.twitter. com / N7bXB9dCx0 – Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) April 3, 2021 The Times released details of certain cases, including a man who donated $ 500 but soon discovered that the campaign had paid $ 3,000 in 30 days. Dollars had withdrawn from him, depleting and freezing his bank account Trump campaign has returned $ 122 million, or 10 percent of the amounts raised online in 2020, and Goldmacher notes the number is likely to rise. In context, the Biden campaign returned $ 20.2 million, or 2.2 percent, of its online donations over the same period. Jason Miller, a spokesman for former President Donald Trump, downplayed the campaign’s refund requests and fraud complaints, noting that only 0.87 percent of transactions were the subject of formal credit card disputes. However, Goldmacher writes that a rate of 0.87 percent equates to 200,000 donations, which equates to $ 19.7 million. A Wells Fargo fraud investigator told the Times that complaints against the Trump campaign and WinRed, the company that processed its online donations, had soared around the time the recurring donation box appeared. “It was starting to get absolutely wild,” said the investigator. Read more in the New York Times. More stories from theweek.com Matt Gaetz’s claims show QAnon corrupting its followers
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