Millions of his campaign, millions of the RNC, millions of committees. While other billionaires spend a lot on the election, Donald is winning it.
Among the entities that rent space in the president’s most famous tower: Trump’s own campaign.
Erik McGregor / LightRocket via Getty Images
reTrump has not given a penny to his reelection campaign, choosing to finance the entire effort with money from his donors. Meanwhile, his business has continued to charge the campaign for things like food, accommodation and rent. The result is that $ 2.2 million in contributions from other people has turned into $ 2.2 million in income for Trump.
And that’s just counting the money that flows directly through the president’s campaign. Its reelection apparatus also includes two joint fundraising committees, which work with the Republican party to raise money for Trump. Since taking office, those entities, called Trump Victory and the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, have funneled another $ 2.3 million into the president’s private business, according to a review of the Federal Election Commission’s records. Then there is the Republican National Committee, which has spent an additional $ 2.4 million on Trump properties. Add it all up, and the president, working in concert with the party he runs, has helped drive $ 6.9 million in his business since he took office.
It is a significant sum, even for a large company. Consider payments to Trump National Doral, the president’s golf complex in Miami. In 2017, Trump’s first year in the country, revenue at Doral fell from $ 88 million to $ 75 million, dragging earnings (measured as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) from $ 12.4 million to just $ 4.3 million. The following year, the RNC, which had spent only $ 3,000 on the property in 2017, increased its expenses to $ 603,000. That helped give a slight boost to the business, which posted 2018 earnings of $ 9.7 million, according to a spokesperson for the Trump Organization.
Two years later, RNC is now a well-established customer at the complex, having spent $ 255,000 there in 2019 and another $ 510,000 in January. The latest payments provided a good shake-up to the place shortly before the coronavirus crisis closed it. Altogether, Doral has done $ 1.4 million worth of business with the RNC since Trump took office.
Trump Bedminster’s clients include Trump Victory, one of the President’s joint fundraising committees.
Julio Cortez / AP
It is not the only Trump asset that receives political payments. While the Trump Organization was working to fill the space inside the Trump Tower, the President’s re-election campaign remained a trustworthy tenant, spending around $ 38,000 on rent per month. More than three years after Trump became president, those payments now total $ 1.5 million, an even greater amount than the amount that went to Doral. On top of that, the RNC paid $ 225,000 to Trump Tower Commercial LLC, the entity through which the president holds his famous tower. The campaign spent at least another $ 187,000 renting space from other Trump entities in New York City.
On the street of the White House, at the Trump International Hotel, the president’s campaign, joint fundraising committees, and the political party have spent at least $ 900,000. Across the country, some $ 16,000 of campaign money flowed to his sister hotel in Las Vegas. Another $ 1.7 million went to the New York-based president’s hotel empire, according to a review of submissions by the Federal Election Commission. In total, that adds up to $ 2.6 million for Trump hotels, not counting the money that has gone to his Miami golf resort.
The reelection campaign has not spent much money on Mar-a-Lago. But Trump Victory, one of its joint fundraising committees, picked up the slack and disbursed $ 345,000 since Trump took office, according to a review of the documents filed. The RNC contributed $ 290,000 as well.
Trump Victory also revealed to have spent $ 345,000 on Mar-a-Lago since the president took office.
Wang Yingh / Newscom
Another of the president’s favorite getaways, the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, received $ 12,000 from the campaign and $ 75,000 from Trump Victory. The campaign yielded another $ 500 to the Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, New York.
There is more. The campaign paid Trump companies for legal advice, IT expenses, airfare, even office supplies.
Forbes first reported on this practice in late 2018, and again in early 2020. What does the President’s team say about all of this? Not much. When asked about these types of payments in the past, representatives issued statements insisting that the campaign had paid fair market value under negotiated rental agreements and other law enforcement service agreements. . Contacted with additional questions last night, after a new batch of submissions came out, neither the Trump campaign nor the Trump Organization nor the Republican National Committee gave an immediate response.
