Donald Trump and Republican Party Reach Fund-Raising Agreement

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/18/us/politics/rnc-trump-fundraising.html

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Donald J. Trump and the Republican National Committee announced on Tuesday night that they had forged a joint fund-raising agreement allowing donors to make contributions as large as $449,400, spread among the national committee and party committees in 11 states.

The agreement is the product of weeks of negotiations and presents Mr. Trump with his first opportunity to collect large checks from donors as he faces the uphill climb of raising money in six months for a campaign that could realistically cost more than $1 billion.

But the 11 states include only one swing state, Virginia.

The structure is similar to the one created for Mitt Romney’s campaign in 2012: Mr. Romney’s home state, Democratic-leaning Massachusetts, was included in his agreement, while Mr. Trump has included New York, a state that he believes he can make competitive despite its heavy Democratic edge. Pennsylvania is not on the list, and neither is Ohio or Florida.

The R.N.C.’s finance chairman, Lewis M. Eisenberg, will work with Mr. Trump’s national finance chairman, Steve Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive.

In 2012, Mr. Romney and the R.N.C. raised nearly $77 million in May alone. Even with the higher limits, Mr. Trump may struggle to get there, and some of the funds that will be raised cannot be used for the campaign. His campaign can accept only $2,700 increments from each large check that comes in.

Mr. Trump’s team is leaning heavily on the R.N.C. for key components of campaign infrastructure, such as field operations and voter file data. His campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, is said to be leading the fund-raising effort internally, with a close ally, Eli H. Miller, as the chief operating officer.