一个新的超级PAC由共和党超级捐赠者支持总统唐纳德·特朗普s连任竞选在过去的两年里几个月前这选举。
这个名为“保护美国”的新组织是由包括前特朗普竞选顾问克里斯·拉西维塔在内的资深共和党特工组织的。
从本周开始，保护美国行动委员会将在宾夕法尼亚州、北卡罗来纳州和亚利桑那州等关键战场州发起一场价值3000万美元的广告闪电战。
“保护美国”于周二开始播放第一批广告，在接下来的几周内，计划在宾夕法尼亚州、北卡罗来纳州、亚利桑那州、佛罗里达州、佐治亚州、爱荷华州和威斯康星州播放的3000万美元电视广告中，已有超过2500万美元投入使用。该组织告诉美国广播公司新闻，第一轮广告的剩余部分——500万美元——预计将用于数字广告。
该组织的两个广告在周二早上播出，都集中于将前副总统乔·拜登与警察运动联系起来。一个特征亚利桑那州一名名叫阿里萨·科尔多瓦的妇女在执行公务时失去了她的警察丈夫。这另一个约翰·吉利斯，一位退休的洛杉矶警察中尉，讲述了他的女儿是如何被一个帮派成员谋杀的。
政客首次报道加入新的团队。
亚历克斯·布兰登/美联社
2020年8月27日，华盛顿，共和党全国代表大会第四天，唐纳德·特朗普总统在白宫南草坪发表演讲。
新的超级政治行动委员会是在“美国第一行动”(America First Act)经历了艰难的一年后成立的，这是特朗普竞选团队在2019年正式认可的一个超级政治行动委员会。竞选助手和其他盟友对奥巴马今年早些时候的不作为越来越愤怒，同时一系列支持民主党和支持拜登的团体涌入该地区，将奥巴马描绘成一个“失败”的领导人冠状病毒大流行。
“他们没有花钱。当总统比以往任何时候都更需要盟友的时候，他们也不是在为总统辩护。我们的朋友在哪里?”四月份，当紧张局势达到沸点时，一位接近竞选的消息人士告诉美国广播公司新闻。“美国第一在哪里?”
去年5月，特朗普的竞选团队称美国第一是“一个获得批准的非竞选团体。”当被问及这一声明是否仍然有效，或者“保护美国”是否也被认为是一个被认可的外部组织时，竞选团队没有回应。
将领导这个新团体的拉契维塔是一位资深的共和党战略家，他曾与现已被定罪的前特朗普竞选主席密切合作保罗·马纳福特。在此之前，他在2004年选举中损害前民主党总统候选人约翰·克里的斯威夫特夸夸退伍军人争取真理运动中扮演了重要角色。
拉契维塔在给美国广播公司的一份声明中写道:“激进的左翼暴徒正试图从内部摧毁我们的国家，而乔·拜登太软弱了，无法阻止他们。”“这是越来越多的美国人共同关心的问题，我们打算在未来几个月里广泛传播他们的信息。”
据知情人士透露，“保护美国”尚未提交联邦选举委员会的筹款报告，以显示谁在最后一刻为这一巨大努力提供了资金，但许多共和党/特朗普的主要捐赠者都支持这一计划，包括赌场大亨谢尔登·埃德森和家得宝联合创始人伯尼·马库斯。
八月初，埃德森据说订婚了在与特朗普的一次有争议的电话交谈中，总统质问这位拉斯维加斯亿万富翁没有做足够的工作来支持他的2020年竞选。
阿德尔森是共和党最大的捐助者之一，他今年早些时候向特朗普胜利基金会捐赠了58万美元，该基金会是特朗普竞选团队和共和党全国委员会之间的一个联合筹款委员会，但今年尚未向“美国第一”捐款。
曼德尔·颜/法新社，通过盖蒂图像，文件
2019年12月7日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普与拉斯维加斯金沙集团首席执行官谢尔登·埃德森在佛罗里达州好莱坞外交官海滩度假村向2019年以色列-美国理事会全国峰会发表演讲。
在2016年的选举中，他也参与了类似的为特朗普助选的最后时刻，当时他在2016年选举周期的大部分时间里都没有露面，在选举的最后几周，他向支持特朗普的新超级政治行动委员会(super PAC)投入了2500万美元。
马库斯也是特朗普的主要捐助者，在2016年选举期间，他将数百万美元捐给了由马纳福特的合伙人管理的超级政治行动委员会。他在2018年给了美国第一100，000美元，今年早些时候给了特朗普胜利360，600美元，但今年还没有给美国第一。
New pro-Trump super PAC backed by GOP megadonors launches $30 million ad blitz in battleground states
A new super PAC backed byGOP megadonorshas emerged to support PresidentDonald Trump'sre-election campaignin the last twomonths leading up totheelection.
The new group, called Preserve America, is organized by senior Republican operatives including former Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita.
Starting this week, Preserve America PAC is launching a $30 million ad blitz in some of the key battleground states like Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Arizona.
Preserve America began airing its first ads on Tuesday, with more than $25 million of that $30 million planned for television ads in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa and Wisconsin in the next couple weeks. The rest of this first round of ads -- $5 million -- is expected to go to digital ads, the group told ABC News.
Two ads from the group aired Tuesday morning, both zeroing in on linking former Vice President Joe Biden to the defund the police movement.One featuresan Arizona woman named Alyssa Cordova, who lost her police officer husband in the line of duty. Theother onefeatures John Gillis, a retired Los Angeles police lieutenant who talks about how his daughter was murdered by a gang member.
Politicofirst reportedon the new group.
President Donald Trump speaks from the South Lawn of the White House on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention, Aug. 27, 2020, in Washington.
The new super PAC comes after a rocky year for America First Action, which was a super PAC that the Trump campaign officially endorsed in 2019. Campaign aides and other allies had grown increasingly incensed over its inaction earlier this year while a slew of pro-Democrat and pro-Biden groups flooded the zone painting the president as a "failed" leader amid thecoronaviruspandemic.
"They're not spending any money. And they're not defending the president when he needs allies more than ever right now. Where are our friends?" a source close to the campaign told ABC News in April when tensions hit a boiling point. "Where the hell is America First?"
Last May, the Trump campaign called America First the "one approved outside non-campaign group." The campaign did not respond when asked if that statement still stands or if Preserve America is also considered an approved outside group.
LaCivita, who will be leading the new group, is a veteran Republican strategist who worked closely with now-convicted former Trump campaign chairmanPaul Manafort. Previously, he played a significant role in the Swift Boast Veterans for Truth campaign that damaged former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry during the 2004 election.
"The radical left-wing mob is trying to destroy our country from within and Joe Biden is too weak to stop them," LaCivita wrote in a statement to ABC News. "It's a concern shared by a growing number of Americans and we intend to spread their message far and wide over the coming months."
Preserve America has yet to file an FEC fundraising report to show who's bankrolling this massive last-minute effort, but a host of major GOP/Trump donors are behind it, including casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, according to a source familiar.
Earlier in August, Adelson wasreportedly engagedin a contentious phone call with Trump when the president confronted the Las Vegas billionaire for not doing enough to support his 2020 campaign.
Adelson, who is one of the biggest Republican contributors out there, earlier this year gave $580,000 to Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee between the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, but has yet to donate to America First this year.
President Donald Trump stands on stage with Chief Executive Officer of Las Vegas Sands Sheldon Adelson ahead of his address to the Israeli American Council National Summit 2019 at the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Fla., Dec. 7, 2019.
During the 2016 election, he was involved in a similar 11th-hour boost for Trump, when he sat out through most of the 2016 cycle and in the last few weeks of the election dropped $25 million to a new super PAC that supported Trump.
Marcus too has been a major donor to Trump, giving millions during the 2016 election to a super PAC run by Manafort's associates. He gave $100,000 to America First in 2018 and $360,600 to Trump Victory earlier this year but none to America First this year yet.
