Presidential races

GOP operative Ed Rollins joins pro-Trump super-PAC

A super-PAC supporting GOP presidentail front-runner Donald Trump is beefing up, adding a well-known Republican operative to its ranks.
 
Ed Rollins, a former top operative for President Reagan and for more recent presidential contenders including Michele Bachmann in 2012, is joining Great America PAC, according to Politico.
 
{mosads}“I’m not ready to roll over and play dead and allow Hillary Clinton to be president,” Rollins told Politico.
 
“This will be my last hurrah. … I’m 73 years old. I can’t be doing this s–t forever.”
 
Rollins did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
 
The Rollins hire is just the latest sign that Great America PAC is morphing into the top outside group that would support Trump in a general election against Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee. 
 
The super-PAC began being taken seriously by Beltway insiders when it hired longtime GOP strategist Jesse Benton, who previously worked for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), as its chief strategist.
 
Trump, who is partially self-funding his primary campaign through personal loans, has a conflicted relationship with super-PACs. He has described the outside-money groups as vehicles of corruption for special interests. His campaign said it sent cease-and-desist letters to pro-Trump groups, disavowing their support.
 
But Trump has carefully avoided promising to self-fund a general election campaign against Clinton. Trump and his allies, such as convention manager Paul Manafort, have said they are open to taking outside money for the general election.
 
Great America PAC had raised $550,000 and spent $1.2 million by the end of March, according to Federal Election Commission reports.