Trump told followers to donate for a chance to win a dinner with him — then never picked a winner: report

On Friday, Rolling Stonereported that former President Donald Trump appears not to have ever followed through on a promotional prize he was pledging to award one of his supporters in return for political donations.

"Former President Donald Trump in recent weeks asked his supporters for money as part of a promotion to eat dinner with him in New Orleans last Saturday. The only problem was that no one actually got to eat dinner with Trump, The Washington Post reported Friday, citing four people familiar with the matter," reported William Vaillancourt. "A series of email pitches to small-dollar donors offered up what any loyal Trump supporter would undoubtedly appreciate. 'We’ll cover your flight. We’ll cover your very nice hotel. We’ll cover your dinner,' one email read. 'All you have to do is enter.'"

"It’s unclear how much money the pitches raised for Save America PAC, the former president’s political action committee, or how many people donated," noted the report. "But similar contests brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars, people involved with them told the Post."

According to Trump spokesman Tyler Budowich, “President Trump has awarded more than 100 prizes to contest winners across America, but due to an administrative error in this individual circumstance, the contest winner was not properly notified for last weekend’s event in New Orleans,” and that a "substitute prize" will be given to the winner instead.

However, this is not the first time the Trump campaign has found itself at the center of controversy over their fundraising tactics. Last year, reports revealed that the Trump campaign has had to pay out millions in refunds to donors after deceptively tricking them into a monthly recurring payment by "pre-checking" the option to do so.