Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is refuting an MSNBC report released Tuesday that lists the Republican candidate’s campaign expenditures through September at “about $2 million.”
The report, written by the network’s chief legal correspondent, Ari Melber, includes a chart comparing Trump’s spending to other Republican hopefuls and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
“Trump campaign officials say he has only spent about $2 million — far less than fellow GOP candidates Dr. Ben Carson and Sen. Ted Cruz, for instance,” Melber wrote.
When asked to confirm the $2 million figure, however, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said Melber’s numbers had not come from the campaign.
“That is not a number provided by the campaign,” Hicks told the Washington Examiner. “Everything will be available when the [Federal Election Commission] report is out.”
The FEC deadline for candidates’ second quarter fundraising reports, which include a breakdown of campaign expenditures, is Oct. 15. While some campaigns choose to release their numbers ahead of time, Hicks denied that had been the case with Trump’s camp. She maintained the campaign would release its numbers on the mid-October deadline.
Asked about the descrepency, Melber did not immediately provide an explanation to the Examiner. An NBC media relations staffer later admitted, in an email to the Examiner, that Melber relied on an unsourced report published in mid-September containing a figure slightly lower than the $2 million included in Melber’s report.
