Trump Ally: Kelly Loeffler Offered Trump $50 Million to Help Get Her Opponent Out of the Race
Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Doug Collins supporter, made the incendiary claim at a recent rally. A source says it was more nuanced than that.
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A leading congressional ally of President Donald Trump alleged last week that Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) threatened to withhold financial support for the president’s re-election effort unless he helped get her top Republican opponent out of the race.
According to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Loeffler or her representatives approached the Trump campaign and offered to spend tens of millions of dollars on Trump’s behalf. But that financial support would only come, Loeffler’s team supposedly said, if Trump helped convince Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) to drop his Senate bid. Gaetz supports Collins and was speaking at a campaign event.
“This is what the Loeffler team went to the Trump team with,” said Gaetz. “They went and said, ‘Look, you guys gotta get Doug Collins out of this race’… She said, ‘I have $50 million for this project, and I can either spend my $50 million getting new voters and helping the Trump campaign, or I can spend that $50 million taking out Doug Collins.’”