Trump threatens GOP mega-donor family
Donald Trump is threatening one of the Republican Party’s mega-donor families after it was revealed as the funder behind a super-PAC set up to destroy Trump’s candidacy.
“I hear the Rickets [sic] family, who own the Chicago Cubs, are secretly spending $’s against me,” the billionaire GOP front-runner tweeted on Monday. “They better be careful, they have a lot to hide!”
{mosads}Trump’s tweet follows revelations that Marlene Ricketts, the matriarch of the Ricketts family, which owns the Chicago Cubs baseball team, contributed $3 million to the anti-Trump super-PAC Our Principles PAC, which is being run by former Mitt Romney adviser Katie Packer.
The super-PAC has spent more than $4 million running attack ads against the GOP front-runner in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. It is the only serious anti-Trump group to date in a campaign cycle in which Republicans have been reluctant to take on their front-runner.
A source connected to Our Principles PAC, who declined to be named, told The Hill that Trump’s tweet raises questions about how he would treat his enemies if elected president.
“It’s this kind of brazen social media scare tactic that makes one wonder what Trump would do with the power of the White House, the IRS or FBI,” the source said.
The source described Trump’s tweet as “an outright threat and bullying aimed at a family who disagrees with Trump’s plan for America and has contributed to Our Principles PAC.”
Until now, the identities of the donors funding Our Principles PAC had been kept secret, fueling the rumor mill in Washington. But the Federal Election Commission reveals that all but $8,000 of the money came from Marlene Ricketts.
The Ricketts family had previously given $5 million to a super-PAC supporting the since-disbanded presidential bid of Scott Walker. The family is yet to publicly declare its support for another presidential candidate but clearly likes both Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, as it has given $10,000 amounts to each candidate.