President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into various Trump-owned properties since the beginning of 2017, according to the organization’s latest filings with the Federal Election Commission.
The filings show the organization, Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., has spent over $100,000 on various products and services in Trump family properties in Washington, D.C., New York, and Las Vegas.
The largest expenditures are for commercial space in Trump Tower on Fifth Ave. in Manhattan, the flagship of the Trump family’s sprawling business empire. The campaign leases offices for approximately $40,000 per month, totaling just over $120,000 during this reporting period. It also paid $2,000 to Trump-owned restaurants inside the building.
The Secret Service and the Department of Defense also rent space at Trump Tower.
The campaign financed over a dozen stays at Trump International — the newly christened luxury hotel in the Old Post Office Building on Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C. Records show the campaign paid for 13 stays in the hotel, where rates routinely hover near $500 per night. Campaign expenses for stays at the hotel totaled approximately $8,300. The committee also paid another $1,000 for accommodations at the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas during separate stays in February 2017.
In total, the campaign has spent some $9,300 at Trump hotel properties since January, and $131,300 in Trump businesses during this filing period.
Politico’s Ken Vogel estimates Trump’s 2016 campaign paid out $12.8 million to his family’s businesses, a relationship he characterizes as an integrated business and political enterprise.
The president and his associates are known to prefer Trump-branded properties. Trump himself spent $66 million of his own fortune on the campaign. Therefore, it is possible the election was a net loss for his finances, though it is difficult to assess how much his ascent to the presidency has affected his net-worth.
A Trump campaign spokesman did not return TheDCNF’s inquiries.
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