Subject: Wall St. Journal - Donald Trump Won’t Self-Fund General-Election Campaign
From: "Paustenbach, Mark" <[email-masked]>
To: Debbie Wasserman Schultz <[email-masked]>
Cc: "Miranda, Luis" <[email-masked]>, "Banfill, Ryan" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 4 May 2016 15:19:19 -0700

Donald Trump Won’t Self-Fund General-Election Campaign<http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-wont-self-fund-general-election-campaign-1462399502?mod=djemalertNEWS>
Presumptive Republican nominee plans to create ‘world-class finance organization’ to back campaign

By MONICA LANGLEY and REBECCA BALLHAUS
May 4, 2016 6:05 p.m. ET

Donald Trump<http://topics.wsj.com/person/T/Donald-Trump/159> won’t self-fund his general-election campaign, and will instead create a “world-class finance organization,” the presumptive Republican nominee<http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-trump-wonand-how-the-gop-let-him-1462390833> said in an interview on Wednesday.

For a campaign expected to cost more than $1 billion, “I’ll be putting up money, but won’t be completely self-funding, as I did during the primaries,” Mr. Trump said on Wednesday. The New York businessman, who did receive some mostly, small unsolicited donations, lent his campaign $36 million of the $47 million he spent through March.

That plan represents a shift for Mr. Trump, who has for months portrayed his Republican opponents as “puppets” for relying on super PACs and taking contributions from wealthy donors that he said came with strings attached.

Mr. Trump is planning to use his expansive personal Rolodex to ensure his campaign has the resources to compete against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton<http://topics.wsj.com/person/C/Hillary-Clinton/6344> in November, while the campaign will tap into a new base of Trump supporters who aren’t on party rolls, two Trump advisers said.

The presumptive Republican nominee, known for operating on a tight budget in a primary where he enjoyed more than $2 billion in free media attention, is also likely to implement a business plan that may be less costly than traditional political campaigns, a senior aide said.

The campaign is also beginning to work with the Republican National Committee to set up a joint fundraising vehicle, after his last two rivals—Texas Sen. Ted Cruz<http://topics.wsj.com/person/C/Ted-Cruz/7753> and Ohio Gov.John Kasich<http://topics.wsj.com/person/K/John-Kasich/8332>—dropped out in the wake of Mr. Trump’s resounding Indiana win on Tuesday. He plans to actively help the Republican Party and other GOP candidates with fundraising through events, direct-mail and online appeals, an aide said.

Beginning to actively solicit donations, while a super PAC backing him also ramps up his activity, means the billionaire will no longer have that club to use against his Democratic opponent in the general election. The move is also likely to put off some Trump supporters, many of whom have said his self-funding makes them trust him more than other politicians.

Mark Paustenbach
National Press Secretary &
Deputy Communications Director
Democratic National Committee
W: 202.863.8148
[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>