Trump campaign operatives are courting big money donors. | AP Photo Trump blesses major super PAC effort Candidates’ top aides participate in briefing with major donors for super PAC that has raised $5 million in recent days.

CLEVELAND — Donald Trump spent the primary bashing major donors and insisting he didn’t want super PAC help, but his campaign on Wednesday signaled that it has dropped its opposition to both and is now openly encouraging donors to give to a super PAC that has raised $5 million in recent days.

At a meeting of about 30 major donors organized by a pro-Trump super PAC called Rebuilding America Now PAC, operatives displayed a slide that offered an overt endorsement from Trump’s vice-presidential nominee Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.


"Supporting Rebuild America Now is one of the best ways to stop Hillary Clinton and help elect Donald Trump our next president!" read the quote attributed to Pence on the slide, which was obtained by POLITICO. Pence’s director of operations Marty Obst also attended the meeting and, according to two attendees, he said the campaign was considering attending future fundraising events for the super PAC.

Reinforcing the message that the Trump campaign wants donors to give to Rebuilding America, Trump’s top strategist Paul Manafort called into the meeting to discuss the campaign and make clear that the PAC was the only one he is addressing, according to three attendees.

Manafort did not respond to a request for comment, while Obst, when approached by a reporter outside the meeting, declined to say whether his attendance represented a de facto endorsement from the campaign of Rebuilding America Now.

"I can't talk about any of that," said Obst, who has worked as a top fundraiser for Pence, a favorite of the GOP donor class. "I'm helping the governor focus on his speech."

But Laury Gay, a longtime Manafort associate who is helping to run the PAC and attended the meeting said Manafort “spoke a little about the campaign and took a few questions.”

Veteran GOP strategist Alex Castellanos, who is also involved in the PAC, said in an interview that Manafort made clear “he wasn't calling any other PACs. That means we have a special responsibility to make America great again.”

Given the federal election laws barring coordination between campaigns, which are subject to campaign contribution limits of $5,400 per race, and super PACs, which can accept unlimited contributions, the Manafort call is about as close as it gets to a campaign endorsing a super PAC.

And Gay said it’s already providing a boost, explaining that a donor in the meeting pledged $2 million on the way out the door. That’s on top of a recent $3-million donation from Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, according to one source.

Those donations alone would more than triple the $2.1 million the PAC raised through the end of last month, according to Federal Election Commission reports. Great America PAC, meanwhile, had raised $2.5 million through the end of May, but its organizers say it is has seen a cash surge in recent weeks and is approaching $20 million in total fundraising.

The combined total fundraising of all of the pro-Trump super PACs pales in comparison to the $59 million raised through the end of last month by the leading super PAC supporting Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Trump's super PAC fundraising has gotten off to a slow start, partly because Trump irked many top donors with his rhetoric during the primaries, and partly because there has been confusion over which of several competing super PACs would emerge as the campaign's favored vehicle.

Underscoring the fundraising competition, Stuart Jolly, an official for a competing super PAC called Great America PAC, loomed in the Ritz lobby, seeking to pitch donors on their way into and out of the Rebuilding America Now meeting. Great America held a fundraiser Monday night that drew some major donors as well, including Texas oilman Harold Hamm and Wyoming mutual fund pioneer Foster Friess.

Additionally, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has talked to several big-money donors and operatives about starting a new pro-Trump super PAC, and three sources said he disparaged the efforts of both Great America and Rebuilding America Now.

One of the donors reportedly pitched by Lewandowski, coal magnate Joe Craft told POLITICO that Lewandowski didn't ask him for money, nor has Craft decided whether he is going to donate to any pro-Trump super PACs.

But Wednesday's meeting and additional Rebuilding America Now events with Trump campaign participation could go a long way toward anointing it as the leading super PAC.

Gay predicted the campaign involvement would alleviate “confusion” among donors about which super PAC was most deserving of their cash, and which could best compliment the campaign’s efforts.

“The advantage that we bring, without compromising any of the boundaries, is we know how Manafort thinks. I've done over 40 campaigns with Paul,” Gay said, though he added that Rebuilding America didn’t see itself competing with the other PACs supporting Trump.

“We don't want to put them out of business. We're not against any of the pro-Trump, anti-Hillary super PACs,” he said, adding that his PAC might consider working with the others.

A number of major donors attended, including chain restaurant mogul Andy Puzder and construction billionaire John Rakolta, while representatives for other mega-donors, including Jets owner Woody Johnson, Texas oil billionaire Harold Hamm and Marcus, also attended, according to multiple attendees. They said that Marcus’s representative urged other donors to give generously.

Wednesday's meeting was overseen by GOP strategists Ken McKay and Castellanos, who are leading the super PAC, along with Gay.

During the meeting, Castellanos showed the donors a slate of proposed ads he'd made. Castellanos highlighted the gangbusters fundraising operation behind Clinton, and argued that Trump's allies need to raise more money to be competitive.