Trump lashes out at Reagan Foundation after fundraising request

President Trump lashed out at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute on Sunday following a report that it had requested the Trump campaign stop using former President Reagan’s name and image in fundraising.

Trump made the remarks in a tweet that also shared a post pointing out that the Reagan Foundation’s chairman, Frederick Ryan Jr., is the publisher and CEO of The Washington Post. In his tweet, Trump also hit Fox News over recent polls that have showed him trailing Joe Biden, his Democratic presidential rival.

“So the Washington Post is running the Reagan Foundation, and RINO Paul Ryan is on the Board of Fox, which has been terrible. We will win anyway, even with the phony @FoxNews suppression polls (which have been seriously wrong for 5 years)!” Trump posted. 

So the Washington Post is running the Reagan Foundation, and RINO Paul Ryan is on the Board of Fox, which has been terrible. We will win anyway, even with the phony @FoxNews suppression polls (which have been seriously wrong for 5 years)! https://t.co/fOi3AROxuz

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2020

The tweet came after the Post first reported that the foundation had called on Trump’s reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) to stop using Reagan’s name and image. 

The organization made its request last week after the Trump campaign had sent an email asking for a donation of $45 or more to enter to receive a “limited edition” set of two gold-colored coins that had images of Trump and Reagan.

Reagan Foundation Chief Marketing Officer Melissa Giller told The Hill on Saturday that the RNC had used Reagan’s image “without our consent” despite the foundation owning the rights to it.

Michael Ahrens, the RNC’s communications director, told The Hill that the foundation had “just recently hosted the Trump family to raise money for its organization and has not objected to us using President Reagan’s likeness before.” But he said the RNC will stop “emailing this fundraising solicitation as a courtesy.” 

Trump has repeatedly criticized Fox News polls in recent weeks that have shown him behind Biden in the presidential race. 

Last week, Fox News polls found the president behind Biden by 9 percentage points in Michigan and 11 percentage points in Pennsylvania. Trump won both of those states in the 2016 election.

Trump called the Fox News polls showing him behind Biden “fake” in an interview on “Fox News Sunday” last week, comparing them to 2016 polls, most of which predicted he’d lose the Electoral College and the popular vote.

The Hill has reached out to both the Reagan Foundation and Fox News for comment.