By Patrick Svitek, The Washington Post (c) 2024
A mysterious new super PAC has reported spending at least $20 million to help elect former president Donald Trump in the final days of the White House race, including by defending him on one of his most vulnerable issues: abortion.
The group, RBG PAC, was formed recently enough that it will not have to publicize its donors until after the election. But it disclosed to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Friday that it was spending the eight-figure sum to boost Trump with digital ads, text messages and mail.
On YouTube, an account with the same name as the super PAC has posted two half-minute ads that feature women emphasizing that Trump has promised he will not sign into law a national abortion ban if elected. Democrats have strenuously disputed that, arguing he cannot be trusted after he appointed the Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022.
In one of the spots, a woman directly addresses the camera and says she trusts Trump on the economy and public safety but that “freedom to choose is also important to me.”
“There’s been a lot of talk on where he stands, but he’s been clear: He does not support a federal abortion ban,” the woman says, noting Trump also backs abortion ban exceptions for victims of rape and incest and when the life of the mother is at risk. “His position is my position, and that’s why I’m with Trump.”
The PAC’s website seeks to connect Trump’s abortion views with those of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was a longtime advocate of abortion rights but had critiqued the Roe decision as too sweeping. Trump appointed Amy Coney Barrett to replace Ginsburg on the court following her death, and Barrett went on to side with the majority to reverse Roe.
The paperwork creating the PAC was signed by May Mailman, a former legal adviser to Trump who is now director of the Independent Women’s Law Center. Mailman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The initial spending by RBG PAC immediately places it among the more serious outside groups that are working to return Trump to the White House. One of the more striking examples is America PAC, the get-out-the-vote group mostly funded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk that has spent at least $127 million.
It is not unheard of for super PACs to crop up in the final days of an election in an effort to delay disclosure of their funding sources until afterward. RBG PAC filed a statement of organization with the FEC on Oct. 16, the last day for which such entities have to disclose their donors before the election, and did not report any receipts for that day.
The next deadline for the super PAC to disclose its contributors is Dec. 5, covering the group’s activity from Oct. 17 to Nov. 25.