Trump to launch leadership PAC after departure from White House

‘He’s going to insert himself in the national debate in a way that’s unlike any of his predecessors’

Donald Trump has reportedly set up a leadership political action committee (PAC) to help maintain his hold on the Republican party after he leaves office.

Trump campaign spokesman, Tim Murtaugh, told The New York Times the initiative has been in the works for a while and that Mr Trump intended to set up the committee whether or not he won the election.

“The president always planned to do this, win or lose, so he can support candidates and issues he cares about, such as combating voter fraud,” Mr Murtaugh told the newspaper.

A leadership PAC is a political committee that is established and maintained by current and former members of Congress as well as other prominent political figures.

They can be used to fund expenses that are ineligible to be paid by campaign committees or congressional offices such as travel, consultants and staff, and polling.

A PAC is permitted to accept donations of up to $5,000 per donor per year from an unlimited number of people and from other political action committees.

Such an initiative could function as a vehicle for Mr Trump to retain influence among officials in the Republican party, many of whom have expressed support for the president in his dispute of Joe Biden’s election victory or remained unusually silent on the matter.

On Monday night, fund-raising solicitations from the Trump campaign reportedly revealed to The Times that 60 per cent of donations would be directed to the new entity titled “Save America.”

The announcement of the new PAC could come as early as this week, Fox News reported.

Mr Biden was declared winner of the 2020 presidential election by networks and news agencies on Saturday. President Donald Trump has yet to concede to the president-elect.

Following the declaration of Mr Biden’s win by news outlets the Trump campaign immediately issued a statement in which the president stated the contest was "far from over".

The president has spent the majority of his time following the announcement making baseless claims of voter fraud in swing states that he says cost him his victory and threatening legal action.

The campaign has filed at least seven lawsuits in battleground states since election day to challenge the ballot counts, Bloomberg reported.

“President Trump is not going anywhere anytime soon,” said Matt Gorman, a Republican strategist, told The Times. “He’s going to insert himself in the national debate in a way that’s unlike any of his predecessors.”