hoping - Insurance

President Trump plans to form a so-called Leadership Political Action Committee, a federal fundraising vehicle that will potentially allow him to retain his grip on the Republican Party even when he is removed from office, said Monday officials.

The announcement is expected as early as this week, just days after major news networks and newspapers, as well as the Associated Press, triggered the 2020 election for former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. .

The PAC would almost certainly be a means by which Mr. Trump could maintain his influence in a party that has been largely remade in his image over the past four years.

These committees can accept donations of up to $ 5,000 per donor per year – far less than the limits of committees formed by Mr. Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee.

But a leadership PAC could accept donations from an unlimited number of people and accept donations from other political action committees. And he could spend an unlimited amount on so-called independent expenses for the benefit of other candidates, as well as fund travel, surveys and consultants.

MATAMOROS, Mexico – Enda Marisol Rivera and Vilma Consuelo Vasquez were sitting at a rickety wooden table under ragged tarps, peeling the bananas they ate for breakfast and talking about the nerves they woke up with this morning.

The two women have lived for months in a squalid tent camp filled with people hoping to gain asylum status in the United States.

“In the name of God, we hope Biden wins,” said Ms. Rivera, who has been at the camp for seven months. “It’s not safe here.”

The camp is testimony to the fact that President Trump has closed America’s door to large swathes of potential migrants. Residents of the camp are among the many foreign nationals who watch the election results with high stakes.

In the absence of television, people in the camp walked around with cell phones for information. Some had radios.

A few tents away, Luis Ramos, 26, from Honduras, sat on a pitcher of water outside his tent, wearing shorts and a black t-shirt that said, “Do everything with love.” . His black socks were getting covered in dirt as he nervously bounced on his legs.

“We’re all watching to see what’s going on,” he said, his eyes red with tears. “Today is the day that will define who will stay and who will go. Trump’s policies put us here. They were bad for us in every way.

Mr Ramos said he had struggled to sleep the night before on the rigid camp bed inside his tent, thinking of the US election. He said he planned to spend the day in one of his neighbors’ tents, where they could cram around the cellphones of people who had enough money to pay for a day of internet service, in order to monitor election results.

“Today is our only hope,” he said.

People at the camp were planning to gather around 7 p.m. to watch the late-night results arrive. Some called the event a feast, others a vigil. Many were in contact with relatives in the United States.

“We are a village here,” said Sandra Andrade, 43, from El Salvador.

Maria Guardado, 43, from Progreso, Honduras, said she was cautiously optimistic that Joseph R. Biden Jr. would be able to help her leave the camp – if he won the race to the presidency. She put her hand in a makeshift stove that she used to make rice for breakfast, mixing scraps of wood to fan the flame. Her 15-year-old son was still sleeping in their tent. She said the two of them would keep their eyes on their phones all day, hoping to hear of a Biden victory.

She felt good that Mr Biden’s wife had visited the camp last year, with many Latinos as part of her delegation. But she added that she was also realistic. “Politicians are politicians,” she said.