The biggest donations given to Trump Victory and Trump Make America Great Again came from donors with limited histories of giving to Trump.
Donald Trump’s campaign operation raised nearly $14 million between the start of April and the end of June of this year, drawing in significant funds from several donors without histories of giving large amounts to federal campaigns, according to Federal Election Commission records.
The $13.9 million total was brought in by the Trump campaign and two joint fundraising committees set up to help raise money for Trump and the Republican National Committee.
Trump’s campaign reported spending $4.37 million during the quarter. At least $221,363 was at Trump businesses, including rent paid to Trump Tower and lodging at the Trump International Hotel.
About half of the campaign’s spending during the three-month period — $2 million — was on digital services.
In addition to Trump’s campaign, the two joint fundraising committees — called Trump Victory and the Trump Make America Great Again Committee — collect money that’s distributed to Trump’s campaign, the RNC and an array of state Republican parties. Individuals are allowed to give close to $450,000 to the joint fundraising committees, which distribute money across multiple committees and funding streams. The three committees combined finished the second quarter with $22.55 million on hand.
The source of the funds raised by Trump’s joint fundraising arms shifted dramatically in recent months. While only $1.51 million of the committees' revenue came from donations of $200 or more between January and April 2017, about $7.48 million of the money raised this quarter was in the form of larger donations.
The biggest donations given to Trump Victory and Trump Make America Great Again came from donors with limited histories of giving to Trump. The top donors, Lianbo Wang and Sherry Li of Oyster Bay, New York, gave a combined $600,000 to Trump Victory. Li and Wang are spearheading a New York real estate project called China City of America that has for years worked to build housing in the Catskill Mountains that would allow Chinese investors to gain U.S. visas through the controversial EB-5 visa program.
Additionally, a California-based couple listed as Ben and Lily Tang donated $300,000, and a donor named Dan Adams in South Carolina donated $100,000.
Though Li and Adams donated to Trump-related causes during the 2016 election, none of these donors had given more than $50,000 to a Trump cause, according to FEC records.
The joint fundraising committees transferred $980,000 to the RNC. More than a dozen state parties also received transfers from Trump’s committees, including the Republican parties of Minnesota, Missouri and West Virginia.