WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee have been told to stop using President Ronald Reagan's name and image for fundraising, news outlets report.
The request from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute to the Trump campaign was over a joint effort with the RNC offering two commemorative coins engraved with images of Reagan and Trump, The Washington Post first reported Saturday.
The coins, one featuring the 40th president and the other, the incumbent Trump, were offered to those who donate $45 or more toward his reelection.
The Reagan Foundation’s chief marketing officer, Melissa Giller, told a Post columnist that the ask to cease the coins was made last week, and the RNC agreed to no longer use Reagan to solicit funds for Trump’s campaign.
RNC communications director Michael Ahrens said the foundation’s “objection came as a surprise” but that they're stopping the fundraising email solicitation as a courtesy, CNN also reported.
The president tweeted his apparent criticism Sunday afternoon, saying that the Post is "running the Reagan Foundation" because its publisher and CEO, Frederick J. Ryan Jr., also chairs the foundation's board.
