Former president Donald Trump’s team has officially disavowed the “Patriot Party,” a fringe outfit that has tried to draw Trump’s supporters out of the Republican Party into a new third-party effort.

Fake news had been circulating that Trump was connected to the efforts of Michael Joseph Gaul of Georgia, who had suggested in a Jan. 22 filing that Trump may be connected to his incarnation of the Patriot Party. Trump’s team has made it clear in a separate FEC filing that this is not the case.

“On January 22, 2021, Patriot Party filed a Form 1 (Statement of Organization) listing [Trump’s presidential organization] as a participant in purported joint fundraising activities under 11 C.F.R. 102.17. [Trump’s presidential organization] did not authorize the filing of this Form 1, has not entered into any joint fundraising agreement to fundraise through Patriot Party, and has no knowledge of Patriot Party’s activities whatsoever,” Trump’s team wrote in the filing. 

To be clear: [Trump’s presidential organization] has no affiliation with Patriot Party, which is not authorized by Mr. Trump or [Trump’s presidential organization],” the filing continued.

“[Trump’s presidential organization] is placing this disavowal notice on the public record out of concern for confusion among the public, which may be misled to believe that Patriot Party’s activities have been authorized by Mr. Trump or [Trump’s presidential organization] — or that contributions to this unauthorized committee are being made to [Trump’s presidential organization] — when that is not true,” they added in the filing.

Previously, Trump had previously flirted with the idea of starting a Patriot Party or a separate third-party organization away from the GOP, which was seized upon by opportunists trying to exploit the former president’s name to make a buck.

Big League Politics has reported on how rank-and-file Republicans overwhelmingly want the party to adopt the agenda and the posturing of Trump:

Recent polling indicates that the overwhelming majority of Republicans side with President Donald Trump over Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in their struggle over the future of the GOP.

McConnell has used last week’s violence in the Capitol to agitate against Trump, even flirting with the idea of impeaching the president. Ten Congressional Republicans joined the Democrats to impeach Trump for a second time on Wednesday.

However, McConnell’s feud with Trump comes at the peril of his career prospects. Republicans side with Trump, believing that Trump is right in his complaints about corruption.

An Axios-Ipsos poll shows that a firm majority of Republicans believe Trump was just to oppose election fraud, that he bares no responsibility in what happened at the U.S. Capitol, and they hope he runs again for the presidency in 2024.

Additionally, the results of the poll show a divide that has formed within the GOP. 56 percent of respondents consider themselves “traditional Republicans” while 36 percent of respondents consider themselves “Trump Republicans.” There is likely considerable overlap between the two groups as well, which should scare the likes of McConnell and his special interest masters.

The findings show that the “Trump Republicans” are on board with their president like never before and will be the most formidable anti-establishment constituency in GOP history.

The Republican Party is the party of Donald Trump and the home of his supporters. Any person attempting to run patriots out of the GOP is trying to subvert Trump’s agenda, whether they realize it or not.