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Former President Donald Trump has all but declared he’ll run for president in 2024.But experts say it takes more than hints for him to be legally required to register with election regulators.Trump gains advantages by delaying a formal announcement that he’s running for office, some experts say.Sign up for our weekday newsletter, packed with original analysis, news, and trends — delivered right to your inbox.
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Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy .Former President Donald Trump has been hinting at running for president seemingly everywhere he goes — on the golf course, on Fox News, at a conservative conference, and at a recent rally.
“In 2024, we are going to take back that beautiful, beautiful White House.
I wonder who will do that?” he said during a March 12 rally in Florence, South Carolina.
Trump believes his litany of suggestions and near-declarations won’t get him in trouble with the Federal Election Commission.But a Democratic super PAC is now betting otherwise.
American Bridge told the New York Times that it is filing a FEC complaint against Trump, accusing him of spending funds on a 2024 bid without formally declaring himself a candidate.The complaint cites Trump’s comments last year: “I know what I’m going to do, but we’re not supposed to be talking about it yet from the standpoint of campaign finance laws,” Trump said, according to The Times .
“When he says ‘I’m going to do it a third time,’ that’s not flirting.That’s more than a toe dip,” American Bridge President Jessica Floyd told The Times.
Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich called the complaint frivolous.And it’s unlikely the six-commissioner, bipartisan FEC, which sometimes spends years considering cases, would find four votes needed to penalize Trump.
Trump must make more than a few indicative remarks for the federal government to require him to officially register as a presidential candidate and begin adhering to financial disclosure and fundraising limit requirements, election experts told Insider.
“There’s no law against joking, bloviating, speculating, or predicting, said Brad Smith, chairman and founder of the Institute for Free Speech and a former Federal Election Commission chairman.
When is a presidential candidate a candidate? To become an official candidate, Trump needs to put money where his mouth is.
He would have to raise or spend more than $5,000 specifically in support of a presidential campaign effort to officially register as a presidential candidate, according to Federal Election Commission guidelines .
“By pretending he’s not running, he hopes to avoid having to file a financial disclosure report that all candidates must file,” tweeted Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Governmental Ethics and now a Project on Government Oversight senior ethics fellow.”And who’s going to force him to admit he’s running? Our campaign laws are broken.”
If Trump formally registered as a presidential candidate today, he’d soon be required to reveal significant details about his personal finances — always a topic of extreme political intrigue, given his wealth and the intersections of his business and political interests.
Presidential candidates must file certified personal financial disclosures “within 30 days after becoming a candidate for nomination or election, or by May 15 of that calendar year, whichever is later, but at least 30 days before the election,” according to FEC rules .Presidential candidates may request up to two, 45-day filing extensions for “good cause shown.” These disclosures include details about a candidate’s finances, including income, employment, assets, debts, travel reimbursements, and gifts received.
On the golf course, Trump can be heard describing himself as the “45th and the 47th” president in a now-viral video.Later, at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando in February, again signaled that he is running.
Even though Trump has conducted campaign-style political rallies and raised tens of millions of dollars for his collection of post-presidential political committees — most notably, Save America PAC — he hasn’t expressly declared that these committees exist in service to his presidential ambitions.
“If he starts to spend money pursuing a run for office, that could trigger candidacy,” Ken Gross, former associate general counsel of the FEC, wrote in an email to Insider.
“Making such a statement on a golf course, possibly in jest, about becoming the 47th president doesn’t quite get you there.”.
