GoFundMe has no problem with Trump legal fees fundraiser

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Despite calls for a boycott, crowdsourcing site GoFundMe has no plans to kill a fundraiser that will help pay the $355 million penalty from ex-president Donald Trump’s New York civil fraud case.

A number of people online have called for a boycott of the fundraiser set up by Florida resident Elena Cardone, which has raised so far raised more than $1.1 million of the $355 million goal.

But GoFundMe says it will not stop the fundraiser because it doesn’t go against its terms of service.

“This fundraiser is currently within our terms of service,” Jalen Drummond, GoFundMe’s director of public affairs, told the New York Post.

In an interview with the Post, Hans von Spakovsky, manager of the Heritage Foundation’s ​​Election Law Reform Initiative, said there’s nothing illegal nor are there any violations of federal campaign finance laws with the GoFundMe because it “can’t be considered campaign contributions to Donald Trump because it’s paying legal expenses that would exist irrespective of the campaign.”

“If they used it for some kind of campaign expense, yeah, that would be a problem. But if they stick to just paying these legal costs, I don’t see a problem,” von Spakovsky said.

Last week, a New York judge ordered Trump and his companies to pay $355 million plus interest after it was found they duped banks and others with financial statements that inflated his wealth in a multi-year scheme.

The GoFundMe was set up to help Trump with the hefty penalty. It was heavily criticized on social media with some demanding it be taken down.

“GoFundMe is allowing a criminal billionaire to raise money to pay his fines! Should not be allowed,” one wrote.

“How many Billionaires do you know who set up GoFundMe accounts to pay their legal expenses?” another chimed in.

“This is outrageous. I still can’t believe that GoFundMe won’t take this down. Why would they though? They stand to gain a huge cut of these funds AND their head of PR is a former Trump employee. What these MAGAts don’t get is that this is only the INTEREST!” another stated.