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It’s been months without a new coronavirus relief package passed in Congress as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact people across the United States.

Pulitzer Prize winning believes they are getting close, but does not expect another $1,200 stimulus check.

“I think we are getting close and there will be a deal this week,” Fahrenthold told Seattle’s Morning News. “I don’t think the $1,200 stimulus check will be in it. There’s been some Republicans who have pushed for that, notably Josh Hawley from Missouri, a senator. But there doesn’t seem to be any real momentum there for that. So I bet the Democrats are going to make a deal just to get some kind of stimulus out there before Biden takes over.”

Fahrenthold: Chance of success for Trump’s election lawsuits fades

Meanwhile, President Trump is raising a bunch of money, with donation matching and continuous text messages from various family members, some of which Dave has received.

“I missed the chance to have my donation matched 1000% and to get my name on the list in time for the president’s speech over the weekend so he could see that I’d given,” he said. “But they must be raising a ton of money. What’s it for exactly?”

“They are raising a ton of money, it’s at least $200 million since Election Day, which is kind of backwards, usually you raise money before the election,” Fahrenthold replied. “The money is nominally for fighting the election results, but that’s almost over, and it’s pretty cheap because his lawyers are terrible. The money really is going into a something called a leadership PAC, something that Trump started called ‘Save America.'”

“That may sound like something very restricted, but it’s actually not,” Fahrenthold added. “Basically, under campaign finance rules, whatever money goes into your leadership PAC, you could do pretty much whatever you want to with it. You can use it to pay yourself, you can have events at your hotels. There’s not a lot of restrictions. And so I imagine we will see some of that money used both to fuel Trump’s political ambitions, but also to enrich his company just given how he’s used campaign funds in the past.”

Fahrenthold says he’s not sure Trump can give it directly to his company, but he can pay it to himself in salary or hold events at his hotels and pay for it with the donation money.

“These things were set up — I don’t know why they did this because we’re talking about politicians — but they’re set up with kind of good faith in mind,” Fahrenthold said. “They had this idea that people who put this money in these PACs would use it for political purposes and not to enrich themselves.”

Listen to the full interview below:

Pulitzer Prize winning reporter David Fahrenthold joins ³ÉÈËXÕ¾ Radio’s Dave Ross every Tuesday on Seattle’s Morning News. Listen to Seattle’s Morning News weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on ³ÉÈËXÕ¾ Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.