Gingrich: Adelson signal is big for Trump

The decision by Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson to endorse Donald Trump could have huge implications for the presumptive presidential nominee’s ability to raise money, Newt Gingrich says.

“It’s a very big signal,” Gingrich told The Hill.

{mosads}“Everyone knows that Sheldon is a very serious man and to have Sheldon come in as strong as he did” will encourage other influential Republicans to get behind Trump, the Georgia Republican said.

Gingrich knows better than anyone the value of having Adelson on one’s side. 

When the former Speaker ran for president in 2012, Adelson spent so much money helping Gingrich’s super-PAC oppose Mitt Romney during the primaries that some Romney supporters are still sore about it. 

Adelson and his wife Miriam ended up spending $20 million on Gingrich, and almost certainly kept his campaign alive longer than it otherwise would have been. 

The Adelsons ended up spending roughly $100 million during the 2012 presidential cycle.

In a Washington Post op-ed published on Friday, Adelson explained why he was supporting Trump and encouraged his fellow donors to join him.

The Adelson endorsement comes at a crucial time. Trump is rapidly changing his fundraising strategy, switching from mostly self-funding to a traditional fundraising operation.

During the primary campaign the real estate mogul said he didn’t want donors’ money and mocked his opponents for being “totally owned” by their special interest donors. 

But since becoming the presumptive nominee, Trump has not only set up a traditional finance operation, his aides have reportedly not ruled out using new donations to refund the roughly $40 million Trump has already loaned to his campaign. 

Trump and his allies have begun soliciting money from outside donors for a general election bid that will likely cost more than $1 billion.

At least two pro-Trump super-PACs have launched, including one announced this week that The Hill understands has been quietly endorsed by Trump aides. 

And Trump, who is forming a joint fundraising committee with the Republican National Committee, has recruited Wall Street banker Steve Mnuchin as his national finance chairman, along with well-known GOP fundraiser Anthony Scaramucci.

The Trump campaign is also launching a fundraising blitz in Los Angeles. A friend of the billionaire, investor Thomas Barrack Jr., is scheduled to host a fundraiser at his home on May 25, The Washington Post reported.