For the guy that brags about donating his presidential salary to whatever “charity” or entity will most suit his needs at the time, Donald Trump has apparently not made a habit of donating to his own presidential campaign in any way.
In fact, it’s quite the opposite — evidently, the guy is literally funneling money into his own businesses from campaign donations.
According to a report from Forbes, not only has Trump relied entirely on campaign donations rather than his own “riches” to fuel his campaign, he’s apparently been using said donations to funnel cash back into his own businesses.
The report, along with recent federal filings, indicates that Trump’s companies are continuing to charge his own campaign for things like rent and consulting — ultimately putting the campaign donations from his supporters right back into his personal pocket, all while he continues to not put a dime of it back into the campaign that his donors originally gave to.
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Considering Donald announced his intention to run for a second term on January 20, 2017, that means a staggering $19 million donated to his presidential reelection campaign has been funneled back into his own businesses, and therefore his own pocket.
Karl Sandstrom, a Democrat who served as a commissioner of the Federal Election Commission from 1998 to 2002 said, “This is a man, who when he first said he was going to run for office, was saying that he was going to do this all out of his own pocket. And now he’s taking money from others and putting it in his pocket.”
This isn’t the first time that Forbes has brought attention to the matter either.
More than a year ago the publication reported on Trump’s mishandling of campaign funds, alleging at the time that $1.1 million in donations had been shifting to his businesses. Since the original story, the amount of money has only continued to rise exponentially.
Among the Trump-owned businesses making bank off the president’s campaign is Trump Restaurants LLC, Trump Plaza LLC, and the Trump Hotel Collection, which reportedly received the most cashflow of them all.
However, none of this seems to be an issue for Republican Bradley Smith, who served as an FEC commissioner from 2000 to 2005.
“There’s no problem, so to speak, doing business with yourself, as long as you’re not giving yourself some kind of super-favorable deal that the public can’t get,” Smith stated.
Those donated salary checks simply don’t mean squat when the guy is essentially stealing from his own donors, now do they?
You can read the full report here.
Featured image via Political Tribune gallery
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