The Trump campaign steered more than $190,000 in campaign contributions to Trump-owned properties, businesses, and family members in the fourth quarter of 2019, Federal Election Committee filings show. The campaign has steered more than $1.8 million in donations to the president’s interests since he took office.
Critics have accused Trump of self-dealing on occasions where government employees traveling for work have paid rates well above the amount permitted for reimbursement while staying at his properties in Florida, Ireland, and Scotland.
From October through December, the campaign paid Trump Tower Commercial $37,541.67 and Trump Restaurants $3,000 in rent each month, and the Trump Hotel Collection more than $60,000 in facility rental fees.
The campaign paid legal and IT consulting fees to the Trump Corporation of $11,917 over the same period — on top of the $1.4 million paid in legal and attorneys fees in the fourth quarter, payments that went to the campaign’s law firm, Jones Day, Trump’s personal attorney Charles J. Harder at Harder LLP, and to firms representing Trump’s interests in the Trump University lawsuit and the Stormy Daniels case.
New @FEC filing: Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign paid $194,247.57 to Trump family members, properties & businesses in the final quarter of last year alone—steering over $1.8 MILLION in donations from presidential campaign donors to @realDonaldTrump‘s private interests. pic.twitter.com/ell9EtWkDH
— Anna Massoglia (@annalecta) February 1, 2020
Donations to the campaign surged as Democrats in the House began impeachment proceedings against the president last year, Trump campaign leaders said. They raised $46 million in the fourth quarter, breaking a previous $41 million record, a boost that campaign manager Brad Parscale said was driven by frustration with Democrats’ focus on removing the president from office and support for his record. Trump’s “war chest,” said Parscale, added heft to a campaign he called “an unstoppable juggernaut.”
In December, House Democrats voted to impeach Trump on two articles, charging him with obstruction of Congress and abuse of power for withholding security from Ukraine in a bid to pressure the Ukranian government to open investigations into political rival Joe Biden. Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, were cashing in. The Republican National Committee raised $10 million in small-dollar contributions and added 600,000 new donors to their rolls — a spike that mirrored the jump that occurred when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi first announced impeachment plans.
The Senate impeachment trial began in January and will conclude Wednesday with the president’s likely acquittal.
