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Trump Campaign Paid Millions To His Businesses During Midterms

Trump Campaign Paid Millions To His Businesses During Midterms

A whopping $12.8 million. That’s how much Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign paid his companies, according to a Politico analysis of Federal Election Commission data.

It’s a fact that Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign has not only raised an unprecedented sum of money during the midterm elections — but it has spent an unprecedented amount as well. And the money wasn’t spent on Republicans in Congress who could have used a boost; it was used on businesses owned by Trump.


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According to FEC reports, “$2 million of the overall tab went to Trump Tower Commercial, LLC, for rent and utilities for the campaign’s headquarters, as well as for payroll, presumably for building staff who worked for the campaign,” Politico reported.

It is unusual for presidential campaigns to raise money during midterm election cycles as the focus is on the congressional candidates. Look back at the 2010 cycle when Barack Obama’s campaign didn’t raise anything. Trump, however, has been raising money for his 2020 bid since his inauguration last year. His campaign raised $60 million through the end of September, and according to reports Trump has raised at least another $46 million.

Trump’s campaign paid $3.2 million to Trump’s own properties and businesses, including rent at Trump Tower, hotel rooms at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC., banquet room rentals at Trump country clubs in New Jersey and Florida. “The Trump campaign also paid for more than $1.2 million worth of flights using Trump’s personal jets—planes the president no longer travels on, but which other family members still do,” Mother Jones reported.

Trump
President Donald Trump waves after speaking during a rally for Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., at Tupelo Regional Airport, Monday, Nov. 26, 2018, in Tupelo, Miss. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

There was also money paid for Trump’s own reelection and fundraising effort, from online ads to a  firm owned by the head of Trump’s 2020 campaign, Brad Parscale. And, Trump’s campaign spent $5.9 million on legal consulting.

It’s unknown how much exactly Trump’s businesses have benefited from campaign money. “That’s partly because the financial and legal structures of his businesses — and their relationships with his campaign — remain opaque, and partly because the payments from Trump’s campaign to his businesses are dwarfed by the $66 million of his own cash that Trump invested in his campaign,” Politico reported.