President Donald Trump’s political action committee sent out a fundraising email this week promising donors “private national security briefings” from the president himself and featuring a photo of the dignified transfer of U.S. service members killed in Kuwait.
“For the first time, I am opening up spots in the National Security Briefing membership,” the email from Trump’s Never Surrender Inc. PAC reads.
“As a member of the National Security Briefing, you’ll receive my private national security briefings, unfiltered updates on the threats facing the United States. The honest truth about border invasions, foreign adversaries, deep state sabotage, and all the dangers hidden in fake news,” he continues. “You will get insider information DIRECTLY from me, President Trump, the leader who rebuilt the largest military in history and put America first like no other.”
The email includes a black and white version of an official photograph taken by the White House that shows the president wearing a white baseball cap reading “USA” saluting a transfer case during the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on March 7.
Several links in the email lead to a donation page.
The White House and Pentagon did not respond to MS NOW’s request for comment on the fundraising email linked to the Iran war and what the offers for “national security briefings” would entail.
Trump is not the first political figure to make special access offers to big donors, Daniel Weiner, director of elections and government program at the Brennan Center for Justice, said in an interview with MS NOW.
“In this case, it would obviously be a blatant violation of the law to reveal any sort of classified or secret information to donors. But assuming they’re not actually doing that, it’s hard to see there’s anything illegal about any of this,” Weiner said.
But the use of a photograph of the dignified transfer of American troops who died in the line of duty to raise funds is notable.
“To have those images used for partisan advertising and fundraising is a bridge, you know, a new bridge that we’re crossing,” Weiner said. “But it’s more a matter of standards.”
