Donald Trump’s Team Officially Disavows the ‘Patriot Party’, Affirms the GOP Belongs to Trump

Former president Donald Trump’s team has officially disavowed the “Patriot Party,” a fringe outfit that has tried to draw Trump’s supporters out of the Republican Party into a new third-party effort.

Fake news had been circulating that Trump was connected to the efforts of Michael Joseph Gaul of Georgia, who had suggested in a Jan. 22 filing that Trump may be connected to his incarnation of the Patriot Party. Trump’s team has made it clear in a separate FEC filing that this is not the case.

“On January 22, 2021, Patriot Party filed a Form 1 (Statement of Organization) listing [Trump’s presidential organization] as a participant in purported joint fundraising activities under 11 C.F.R. 102.17. [Trump’s presidential organization] did not authorize the filing of this Form 1, has not entered into any joint fundraising agreement to fundraise through Patriot Party, and has no knowledge of Patriot Party’s activities whatsoever,” Trump’s team wrote in the filing. 

To be clear: [Trump’s presidential organization] has no affiliation with Patriot Party, which is not authorized by Mr. Trump or [Trump’s presidential organization],” the filing continued.

“[Trump’s presidential organization] is placing this disavowal notice on the public record out of concern for confusion among the public, which may be misled to believe that Patriot Party’s activities have been authorized by Mr. Trump or [Trump’s presidential organization] — or that contributions to this unauthorized committee are being made to [Trump’s presidential organization] — when that is not true,” they added in the filing.