Trump is fuming that anyone could be making money off his presidency but him

On Monday morning, Donald Trump was incensed over a report that one of his highest-profile supporters, David Bossie, had been engaged in apparent financial self-dealing under the guise of re-electing the president. And as he stewed, Trump began telling those close to him that Bossie’s alleged scheme was brazen and egregious enough to warrant a swift, public response.

By Monday night, the president’s reelection campaign had gone through multiple drafts of what several sources described as a harsh statement condemning Bossie’s conduct and the group he led. That evening, there was a widespread belief throughout the upper echelons of Trumpworld that the release of such a rebuke was imminent. Shortly after this story posted, the campaign finally released a statement that didn’t mention Bossie by name but clearly was directed at him and his group.

“President Trump’s campaign condemns any organization that deceptively uses the President’s name, likeness, trademarks, or branding and confuses voters,” it read. “There is no excuse for any group, including ones run by people who claim to be part of our ‘coalition,’ to suggest they directly support President Trump’s re-election or any other candidates, when in fact their actions show they are interested in filling their own pockets with money from innocent Americans’ paychecks, and sadly, retirements. We encourage the appropriate authorities to investigate all alleged scam groups for potential illegal activities.”

Why it took nearly two days to release the statement is not entirely clear. But it reflects how often the political whims can and will shift within the president’s orbit as his advisers try to accommodate his moods without creating too much unnecessary, unforced drama.

The drafting of the statement began only after extended internal griping by the president, according to four people with knowledge of his complaints. Trump was angry at a report from Axios that revealed how Bossie’s political group, the Presidential Coalition, had raised about $18.5 million since 2017, but had spent just $425,000 on actual political activity, a miniscule percentage for such a large outfit. The group spent even more than that buying books, including pro-Trump tracts authored by Bossie himself.

The organization raised much of its money through appeals that directly invoked Bossie’s close relationship with the president. And some of the group’s donors told Axios that they thought their money would be going directly towards efforts to reelect the president, not into the pockets of Bossie and an array of nonprofits and consulting firms with which he’s affiliated.