Trump super PAC raised more than $128 million in recent months

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump’s team raised more than US$100 million (S$128.5 million) for a super political action committee (PAC) in the second half of 2025, with much of the money coming from wealthy people and corporations with issues before the administration.

The haul by the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, detailed in a campaign finance report filed the night of Jan 1, reveals how aggressive fundraising has continued for a political operation that revolves around Mr Trump, giving the organisation over US$300 million before the 2026 midterms, it said.

The donor list highlights the eagerness of deep-pocketed interests to endear themselves to a lame-duck president who has demonstrated a keen interest in fundraising and a willingness to use his office to reward financial supporters and punish critics.

The biggest donations were US$12.5 million each from Mr Greg Brockman, a co-founder of the AI firm OpenAI, and his wife, Anna Brockman; and contributions totalling US$20 million from the parent company of Crypto.com, a cryptocurrency trading platform that has lobbied the administration.

Leaders of the fast-growing AI and crypto industries have courted Mr Trump and gotten favourable treatment.

Other donors included a nursing home entrepreneur seeking an ambassadorship, a vape-maker, a pro-cannabis group and a woman whose father was seeking a deal from prosecutors to settle charges that in 2020 he bribed Puerto Rico’s governor at the time.

Second-term presidents, barred by the Constitution from running again, usually begin winding down their own fundraising after their inaugurations, focusing instead on boosting their parties’ committees and candidates before the midterms and other elections.

While Mr Trump has often mused about seeking a third term, he seemed to acknowledge this fall that he could not.

But emboldened by the record-breaking sum of nearly US$240 million raised by his inaugural committee, he tasked his associates with raising money for other groups and causes dear to him.

Those include not only MAGA and an affiliated political non-profit group called Securing American Greatness, but also the construction of a new White House ballroom, non-profits organising festivities for the 250th anniversary of US independence and a presidential library.

MAGA said in a statement that the group “will have the resources to help candidates who support President Trump’s America First agenda,” including on border security, crime reduction and trying to lower prices for consumers. NYTIMES