Trump campaign ‘repeatedly charged donors without their knowledge’

The campaign automatically checked a box for supporters to donate again and again every week until the election

Donald Trump’s reelection campaign charged donors several times what they intended to give, the New York Times says (AFP via Getty Images)

Donors to Donald Trump’s reelection campaign were unknowingly charged several times what they intended to give, according to a report by the New York Times.

The campaign and WinRed, a contractor that processed the donations, automatically enrolled donors in an option to make their contribution not once, but again and again, every week until the election. If users wanted to make a one-time donation, the Times reported, they had to sift through several lines of fine print and uncheck a box.

The result, in many cases, was Trump supporters having thousands of dollars unexpectedly withdrawn from their bank accounts and not knowing why.

“It felt like a scam,” Russell Blatt, whose brother Stacy was charged $3,000 by the campaign, told theTimes.

Stacy Blatt had only intended to donate $500, but was charged that amount five more times in less than 30 days. At the time, Mr Blatt was in hospice care for cancer and living on less than $1,000 a month. His bank account emptied out, and his checks for rent and utilities bounced.

Read more:

• Biden news live: President offers condolences after US Capitol attack
• Trump demands MLB boycott after ‘woke’ protest at Georgia voting law
• Matt Gaetz shared nude photo on House floor of woman he said he slept with, report says
• Marjorie Taylor Greene says Biden’s vaccine passport plan should be called ‘the Mark of the Beast’
• Matt Gaetz: The Florida congressman who became Donald Trump’s most outspoken ally

He asked Russell for help, and the two brothers called their bank to report the withdrawals as fraud.

They were far from the only ones. Victor Amelino, 78, made a $990 donation that the Trump campaign multiplied eight times, charging him $7,920.

“I’m retired,” Amelino told theTimes. “I can’t afford to pay all that damn money.”

In the end, the Trump campaign refunded $122.7 million in donations in 2020. The Biden campaign, by comparison, refunded $21 million.

Jason Miller, a spokesperson for Mr Trump, disputed those numbers.

“Our campaign was built by the hardworking men and women of America, and cherishing their investments was paramount to anything else we did,” Mr Miller told theTimes.

Gerrit Lansing, president of WinRed, pushed back as well, saying the company always emailed donors to confirm they wished to make repeat donations.

“WinRed wants donors to be happy, and puts a premium on customer support,” he told theTimes. “Donors are the lifeblood of GOP campaigns.”

The Independent has also reached out to WinRed for comment, but the company has not yet responded.