President Trump’s presidential campaign committee made clear on Monday it is not associated with any nascent “Patriot Party.”
In a notice filed with the Federal Election Commission, Donald J. Trump for President Inc. distanced itself from the new group.
“On January 22, 2021, Patriot Party filed a Form 1 (Statement of Organization) listing DJTFP as a participant in purported joint fundraising activities under 11 C.F.R. 102.17,” said the former president’s official campaign committee. “DJTFP did not authorize the filing of this Form 1, has not entered into any joint fundraising agreement to fundraise through Patriot Party, and has no knowledge of Patriot Party’s activities whatsoever.”
The filing made clear there is "no affiliation" between Trump and the Patriot Party:
“DJTFP is placing this disavowal notice on the public record out of concern for confusion among the public, which may be misled to believe that Patriot Party’s activities have been authorized by Mr. Trump or DJTFP — or that contributions to this unauthorized committee are being made to DJTFP — when that is not true.”
Trump spokesman Jason Miller told Axios before the filing that his team is not associated with the group or any other similar ones.
“We are not supportive of this effort, have nothing to do with it and only know about it through public reporting," Miller told the outlet.
According to Axios, the Patriot Party was not the only group to have falsely claimed ties to the former president in paperwork filed with the FEC.
The development comes after talk that the former president would begin his own political party, an idea he reportedly floated but soon dropped.