A Daily Kos article chronicles a series of tweets about the fact that Donald Trump has already filed paperwork relating to his reelection campaign and the repercussions of that filing. I'm not skeptical that he actually made the filing, because you can find it on the FEC's website.
The claims stated in the tweets boil down to:
- This allows Trump to "use candidate status to curry favor with PACs, businesses, other organizations," something the president cannot do unless he is also a candidate for president.
- 501c3 nonprofit organizations are not allowed to "campaign" in presidential elections and, as a result,
- Those organizations risk losing their nonprofit status if and when they criticize Donald Trump.
These are news to me, which is why I'm skeptical. My understanding was that these forms are simply a legal requirement for candidates that raise funds over a certain threshold.