Donald Trump campaign fundraising e-mails have traveled far and wide, prompting complaints with the FEC and from exasperated users.
This story is developing quickly, and it looks like my 6/23 story on Daily Kos may have been the first to raise the allegation and evidence that Trump was sending SPAM (unsolicited e-mail, including to UK MPs).
I am maintaining an updated page with the latest development on Quora.
What is now known:
1) Reports suggest that every MP in Iceland, as well as MPs in the UK, Denmark, and Australia received unsolicited e-mails from the Trump campaign. An unconfirmed report from an Australian MP on Twitter stated that ALL Australian MPs got the SPAM.
2) UK MPs discussed the “intemperate SPAM” on the floor of the House of Commons, demanding that the unstoppable e-mails be blocked.
3) Tons of people have complained about the Trump SPAM on Twitter (both receiving e-mails that they never signed up for and reports that unsubscribe requests have not been honored).
4) Alexa stats from after the “first fundraising e-mail” and Return Path stats are consistent with an unsolicited e-mail campaign (high unsubscribe rate and lots of SPAM reports).
5) Yahoo reported on campaign finance disclosures that suggest the Trump campaign is buying/renting e-mail lists of people that did not explicitly opt-in to Trump e-mails.
6) The Trump campaign was sued by two people, back in April, for sending unsolicited text message (SMS) SPAM.
7) Some reports have questioned the authenticity of the foreign solicitation e-mails. Spoofing, etc. is a possibility; I certainly cannot speak for the foreign messages without seeing the headers. However, I, personally, received an unsolicited message from “Team Trump” that appears, superficially, to be linked to the RNC and an e-mail service provider. Other tweets link the mailings to two additional e-mail service providers.
8) The Associated Press is reporting that two “watchdog” groups have filed FEC complaints against the Trump campaign for soliciting foreign funds.
9) Tweets have been posted linking some of the e-mail addresses sent to (one-time e-mails) or sender information to lists maintained by other GOP politicians, including: Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Ben Carson, and Newt Gingrich. Their involvement has not been independently confirmed nor have the tweets been verified.
10) Reports of Trump SPAM were still being posted to Twitter as of 6/29/2016.
Speculation
1) From the number of users who claim to have been unable to unsubscribe, I believe that the campaign is not maintaining a global e-mail suppression list. As a result, unsubscribing from one send may not unsubscribe the user from other sends. It is also likely that sends are happening through multiple e-mail service providers or third-party senders and that suppression lists are not being shared between them.
Full list of evidence and sources, with greater detail, in chronological order:
I recently wrote a two-part article on Trump SPAM (the first article pre-dates the conservative reports), and posted them to the Daily Kos ( Did Donald Trump Raise $2 million from SPAM? , Trump Campaign SPAM Complaints Continue to Proliferate on Twitter ). Here are the facts:
- There are a lot of users taking to Twitter to complain about receiving Trump campaign e-mails without ever having signed up for his list.
- Shortly after his “first fundraising e-mail”, Alexa reported that ~20% of visits to the Trump2016 fundraising website were to the “unsubscribe” subdomain.
- Even with recent publicity, including allegations of a “tremendously high” SPAM complaint rate ( Trump Camp Still Not Asking for Donations in Emails ), there continue to be new reports of Trump campaign SPAM on Twitter.
- I reached out to e-mail delivery specialists Return Path on Twitter for a comment. Their reply (twitter.com/... ): “Based on the data, we surmise that Trump is likely buying lists, and he has a high spam complaint rate”.
I think a fair question to ask would be whether the Trump campaign is knowingly sending SPAM. However, the data supports the SPAM allegations being leveled at the 2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign.
UPDATE 6/26/2016 5:52PM ET: The Donald Trump campaign appears to have just sent another fundraising e-mail and prompted still more SPAM complaints on Twitter ( Another Fundraising E-mail and More Donald Trump Campaign SPAM Complaints on Twitter ). The number of complaints associated with this blast appear to be less than the campaign previously experienced. Maybe the campaign is trying to clean up its list (or maybe more of its messages are getting automatically filtered).
UPDATE 6/26/2016 10:13PM ET: A lot more complaints have come in about the latest e-mail since my last update, so it looks like there are still a large volume of complaints for each message.
UPDATE 6/27/2016: Finally, some media coverage reflecting what I have been saying for DAYS:
Why Is Team Trump Asking Liberal Scottish Politicians for Donations?
AP: "Trump may be buying email lists of people who don't want to hear from him” ( Trump emails: Can you spare $10 to help elect a billionaire? )
UPDATE 6/27/2016: Yahoo just ran a detailed article on Donald Trump’s SPAM problem ( Donald Trump has a spam email problem ). Among the stats:
Trump recipients marked 3.1% of those emails as spam; only .41% of Sanders messages and .02% of Clinton’s met the same fate. Three weeks earlier, Trump’s would-be readers were even less forgiving, marking 9.34% of his messages as spam.
It also credits Trump with having a higher open rate than Clinton or Sanders, but I suspect some of those incremental “Opens” actually are from a larger number of people trying to unsubscribe.
As I previously reported, the Alexa stats from shortly after the “first fundraising e-mail” showed ~20% of visits to an “unsubscribe” subdomain. If people open the message looking for an unsubscribe link, that could result in higher engagement/open rates.
9.34% of messages marked as SPAM was INSANE! Even later, it was 3.1% for Trump as SPAM vs. 0.02% for Clinton while Clinton has a larger list.
UPDATE 6/28/2016 8:22AM ET: According to the BBC (Brexit fallout, Labour turmoil and Cameron in Brussels - BBC News):
Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale calls for Donald Trump campaign emails to be blocked on the House of Commons email system.
Sir Roger raises a point of order to complain that many MPs have been "bombarded with emails from Team Trump on the behalf of someone called Donald Trump".
While he is in "all in favour of free speech" he does not wish to be "subject to intemperate spam", adding that "efforts to have these deleted have failed".
Speaker John Bercow replies that while "this is not a matter for the chair" he agrees it is "not acceptable to be bombarded with emails of which the content is offensive".
Mr Bercow says he will contact the Parliamentary digital services to see if the messages can be blocked.
UPDATE 6/28/2016 2:14PM ET: The news finally seems to be getting out:
MPs 'bombarded' by spam emails from Donald Trump
UK Pols To Trump: Stop Wasting Our Time With Your Crappy Fundraising Emails!
The last article states that a complaint has been filed with the FEC. None of the articles have mentioned that the SPAM has traveled beyond the UK to Australia. Two of the tweets I cited in one of my earlier articles were from Australian MPs who complained about receiving the solicitations.
None of the articles have cited the Twitter reaction or suspicious Alexa stats cited in my earlier reports. Also, none have credited my earlier reports (including my article from 6/23 reflecting that “two British MPs” complained on Twitter about the SPAM).
UPDATE 6/28/2016 7:34PM ET: Evidently Donald Trump sent SPAM to ALL Icelandic MPs as well ( Donald Trump Asking Icelandic MPs For Donations - The Reykjavik Grapevine ):
Numerous members of the Icelandic parliament are both bemused and confused by an email, apparently received by all of then, asking for donations to the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.
UPDATE 6/28/2016 9:16PM ET: Based on the campaign finance disclosures cited in the Yahoo report, Tweets from users who claim that one-time e-mails had fallen prey to the Trump SPAM campaign, and a conversation that I had with somebody who might be in a position to know, I strongly believe that Trump and/or the RNC is buying/renting lists and sending messages from the RNC/Trump without disclosing the source of the e-mail (the original list that the user signed up for) in the message itself. That may not be the only tactic being used, but I am convinced it is at least one of the tactics.
From the number of users who claim to have been unable to unsubscribe, I also believe that the campaign is not maintaining a global e-mail suppression list. As a result, unsubscribing from one send may not unsubscribe the user from other sends. It is also possible/likely that sends are happening through multiple e-mail service providers or third-party senders and that suppression lists are not being shared between them.
UPDATE 6/29/2016 8:18AM ET: Multiple reports have questioned the authenticity of the foreign messages ( Donald Trump is spamming foreign politicians asking for money , Britain: MPs object to ‘begging’ Trump emails ). I received an unsolicited fundraising message from “Team Trump” on June 21 tied to the domain GOPVictory365 | Landing Pages. It appears to be owned by the RNC. The message headers suggest the e-mail was sent from an Amazon IP and the domain’s nameservers were linked to an e-mail service provider that, from its website, appears to have deep GOP ties.
UPDATE 6/29/2016 11:23AM ET: Multiple media outlets are now reporting on the foreign solicitation aspect of this story, but, still, no reports have thoroughly covered the SPAM aspect. Below are some more examples:
Electoral fraud: Trump sends fundraiser emails to foreign politicians
UK Parliament members move forward to block Trump campaign emails due to 'offensive' content
Donald Trump Might Be Spamming Foreign Politicians For Cash
Denmark too: Trump Foreign Contributor/Derp Update
UPDATE 6/29/2016 2:14PM ET: I have “liked” SCORES of Trump SPAM complaints on Twitter going back to the time of my first article. The problem of Trump SPAM appears to be widespread. If you browse my “likes” on Twitter ( Lenny Grover (@lennygrover) | Twitter ), you can view the tweets.
UPDATE 6/29/2016 3:53PM ET: According to a new Associated Press report ( The Latest: Foreign officials say Trump appealing for funds ):
Foreign officials are complaining that they're being "bombarded" by fundraising appeals from U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump. And now, two watchdog groups are filing complaints against the Republican's campaign saying the practice breaks the law.
[break]
The complaint by watchdog groups Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 say the emails violated a federal law designed to prohibit foreign money in U.S. campaigns.
UPDATE 6/29/2016 3:57PM ET: Tweets have been posted linking some of the e-mail addresses sent to (one-time e-mails) or sender information to lists maintained by other GOP politicians, including: Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Ben Carson, and Newt Gingrich. Their involvement has not been independently confirmed nor have the tweets been verified.
Purely speculation on my part: I speculate that some GOP politicians, or conservative media outlets, who are not overtly supporting Trump may be covertly supporting the RNC/Trump e-mail campaign (and not want their information to be disclosed in the message that is sent to the list that they maintain).
UPDATE 6/29/2016 8:04PM ET: Finally, the mainstream media is reporting on the FEC complaints:
Trump fundraising emails overseas prompt complaints here and abroad
Complaint filed about Donald Trump fundraising emails
Both reports do not reflect the latest information in this post. Media outlets may be trying to confirm some of the information from Twitter that is still unverified. Also, there has been almost no reporting on deluge of domestic unsolicited e-mails and the difficulty people have had unsubscribing from Trump’s list.
UPDATE 6/29/2016 9:17PM ET: Bloomberg joins the party:
Trump Campaign Broke Law by Soliciting Foreign Donations, Groups Allege
UPDATE 6/29/2016 9:22PM ET: Now The Gaurdian:
Trump campaign may have broken law by seeking foreign political donations
UPDATE 6/30/2016 10:54AM ET: A conversation I had on Twitter ( Lenny Grover on Twitter ), and the SPAM I personally received, links the mailing to at least three separate e-mail service providers: Adestra-com, Geniusmailer-com, and PsycloneContacts-net. Unconfirmed is that the campaign had been using NationBuilder and switched prior to the bulk e-mails being sent.
