A Bellevue man donated $1 million to an endorsement Political Action Committee (PAC). Donald Trump just a day after he became a convicted felon.
Asset manager Walter P. Schlaepfer made the donation to Make America Great Again, LLC on May 31, according to a new Federal Election Commission filing.
It was Washington state’s largest pro-Trump contribution in May.
As a Super PAC, MAGA, LLC can raise unlimited money for campaigns and spend it freely to support Trump, but it cannot coordinate directly with presidential campaigns.
Schlaepfer’s donation was first reported by The Seattle Times.
According to his blog, “Schlaepfer is a Seattle-area wealth manager and stockbroker who has worked with numerous ultra-affluent clients during his decades-long career as a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch.”
Trump and the Republican National Committee reported this week that they raised a combined $141 million in May, much of it in the last two days of the month, when Trump became the first former U.S. president to be criminally convicted, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Federal Election Commission filings show President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee raised $85 million during the same period.
Trump was convicted of falsifying business documents that carries up to four years in prison, although Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to say Thursday whether prosecutors plan to seek prison time, and it is not clear whether the judge — who earlier in the trial warned of jail time for violations of the gag order — would impose that sentence even if requested.
Trump faces three other felony charges, but the New York case could be the only one to reach a conclusion before the November election, adding to the significance of the outcome. While the legal and historical implications of the verdict are clearly visible, the political consequences are less so, given its potential to reinforce rather than reform already hardened opinions about Trump.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bill Kaczaraba is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here. Follow Bill on X, formerly known as Twitter, here and email him here.
