Trump campaign officials say the activity is perfectly legal. Campaign finance watchers say it reeks of self-bargaining, particularly amid a global pandemic that has killed more than 140,000 in this country and added millions of Americans to unemployment lists.
Fred Wertheimer, who heads the vigilance group Democracy 21, said the money that continues to flow into Trump’s properties underscores how much his presidency has dismantled political and ethical standards in the nation’s capital.
“There has never been anything like this at the presidential level because no president has insisted on owning a commercial business at the same time that he existed as president,” Wertheimer said. “Everyone in the United States is having financial difficulties, and he has this fail-safe method of minimizing any fight for his commercial property by channeling other people’s money.”
In an email, Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said: “The campaign pays fair market value and complies with all FEC laws and regulations.”
While Trump turned over the day-to-day operations of his far-flung brand and real estate empire to his grown children, he has kept ownership of his namesake company and has not shied away from promoting his assets. Over the weekend, he spent part of the two days playing golf at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.
Sunday’s round marked 371 at one of his properties and 279 at one of his golf clubs since the start of his presidency, according to CNN’s tally.
The largest recent spend for a Trump company: The approximately $ 400,000 that Trump Victory paid to the Trump Hotel Collection in late March and early April, recent FEC filings show. A party official said the spending was linked to a donor recall in March at the President’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his tenure, Trump has used the club as the setting for campaign events, alongside official government affairs, such as summits with world leaders such as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Trump’s campaign has been the most heavily spent on Trump-owned companies, fueled by the use of TAG Air, which operated Trump’s personal jet during the 2016 campaign. That represented $ 8.7 million, a CNN count shows. That’s more than half of what the campaign spent on all Trump properties during two cycles of presidential elections.
Other Trump properties that receive money from donors to the Trump campaign and other political entities include: Trump Tower, the New York skyscraper where the Trump campaign has maintained offices and his Doral golf club in South Florida.
CNN’s Alison Main contributed to this report.
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