Donald Trump's return to Washington D.C., to speak before a think tank linked to him is being overshadowed by back-biting among former and current aides over accusations the group's members are wasting donor money with little to show for it.
According to a report from the Daily Beast's Zachary Petrizzo and Roger Sollenberger, the former president will be giving a policy-based speech on Tuesday to the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute (AFPI) that is drawing scrutiny from advisors and allies of Trump who think the members are grifting donors by using their links to the former president.
Last Friday, former Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro slammed the group -- filled with former administration holdovers - as "a dumping ground and haven for a lot of the failed people from the first administration."
On Tuesday, criticism of AFPI expanded with one close Trump ally saying their work is essentially worthless and a waste of money.
"Just because the group successfully lured Trump back doesn’t mean broader Trumpworld plans to cede authority to them," the Beast report states. "Instead, ardently pro-Trump sources told The Daily Beast that AFPI—a nonprofit created soon after Trump left the White House—has become a foe of MAGAland. These critics point to what they see as an ineffectual, glitzy organization that has failed to deliver tangible victories on behalf of the ex-president, while trying to stake a claim as gatekeeper to a potential second Trump administration. And raking in tens of millions of dollars in the process."
Cutting right to the chase, one close associate of the president told the Beast, "It’s a mile wide and an inch deep, all sizzle and no substance. They’re burning through donor money and not doing anything meaningful to advance a coherent policy agenda, and everyone who’s paying attention knows it," before adding, "They launched a bunch of ‘centers’ and spread way too thin the very little talent the organization has. The Trump stamp of approval is all they really have going for them.”
Speaking with the Beast, Navarro added to his previous criticism saying, "People are using Trump’s good name to defeat him,” before labeling them “incompetent” and “grifters.”
Another associate of Trump added, "I don’t see much happening from AFPI other than cable news interviews and press releases about people they’ve hired. I know they’ve raised a ton of money from President Trump’s supporters, but most of that is going to staff salaries and operating costs."
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