David Bossie, the Maryland Republican National Committeeman and head of the conservative group Citizens United, is back in good graces with President Trump, according to a report, after a flap over Bossie’s controversial fundraising tactics.
The Daily Beast reported this weekend that Bossie, a Marylander and Trump’s former deputy campaign manager, had been invited to the White House for a make-up session with the president in recent weeks.
The Daily Beast report was based on information from two anonymous sources who said the president was “cautiously reviving his relationship with Bossie.”
The falling out came in May, after a joint report from Axios and the Campaign Legal Center found that a Bossie fundraising organization called The Presidential Coalition collected $18 million over the last two years – directing only a small portion, about 3 percent, to direct political activity – often by capitalizing on Trump’s image or Bossie’s relationship with the president.
The report alleged that The Presidential Coalition was taking advantage of fixed-income elderly Republicans who thought they were donating to Trump’s reelection bid, and using their donations to raise the coffers and profile of the coalition and related entities, instead of supporting any political campaigns en masse.
After the initial Axios report, Bossie was defended by Republicans in Maryland, many who had campaigns supported by the Presidential Coalition. Nationally, the coalition gave $425,442 directly to state and local campaigns since 2016, the Campaign Legal Center said; a Maryland Matters review of the coalition’s reports to the IRS revealed $93,000 in spending to Maryland candidates and political campaign committees during the same period.
Neither Bossie nor the White House gave a comment to The Daily Beast about the state of their relationship.
Danielle E. Gaines
Contributor
Danielle Gaines worked for Maryland Matters from September 2018 to January 2024. She covered government and politics for Maryland Matters for two years before moving into an editing position, ultimately serving as editor-in-chief for nearly three years. Previously, she spent six years at The Frederick News-Post ― as the paper’s principal government and politics reporter for half that time, covering courts and legal affairs before that. She also reported for the now-defunct The Gazette of Politics and Business in Maryland and previously worked as a county government and education reporter at The Merced Sun-Star in California’s Central Valley.
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