The Teamsters’ political committee made its first donation to the Republican National Committee (RNC) in two decades after meeting with former President Donald Trump, federal donations records show.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters went all in by donating $45,000, the maximum amount permitted, to the RNC soon after Trump’s second meeting with the major union’s leaders in January, federal records show. Teamsters is a labor union that represents approximately 1.3 million UPS and other transportation workers across the U.S. and Canada.
The Teamsters PAC’s donations overwhelmingly go toward Democrats, but the $45,000 donation marks the first significant donation to the RNC in years. https://t.co/bf3D21h0No
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 22, 2024
An RNC official told the Daily Caller they have not received the donation from the Teamsters union
Prior to January, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) received $135,000 from Teamsters in Dec. 2023. The union also donated $15,000 to the DNC in March 2023, according to The Washington Post.
Trump attended a meeting at the union’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. in late January as part of a presidential roundtable with a few Teamsters members, the union executive board, the General President Sean O’Brien and the General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman. This followed Trump’s other Jan. 4 visit with O’Brien as the GOP frontrunner tries to gain the support of union workers. (RELATED: NBC Polling Shows Trump’s ‘Biggest Lead’ Over Biden As It More Than Doubles)
Trump confidently stated at a news conference after his second meeting that he believed he had a “good shot” at receiving Teamsters’ endorsement, according to The Washington Post. O’Brien mentioned that the Biden administration has “been great for unions” during the same conference. The union boss expressed uncertainty regarding who Teamsters would support for president, saying that his labor organization still had “some more questions that need to be asked to both candidates.”
The Teamsters union has yet to endorse a candidate in the 2024 presidential election despite the fact that many large unions have already endorsed President Joe Biden, the outlet reported. The union endorsed Biden in 2020, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016 and former President Barack Obama in both 2012 and 2008.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This piece was updated to reflect that the RNC denied receiving the donation.