Presidential campaigns spend hundreds of dollars on things like pizza and fast food, but at least one Republican has spent $2.2 million patronizing Trump businesses. You'll never guess which one.
From when Donald Trump got into the race on June 16 to the end of 2015, he spent a whole $2 million on Tag Air, Inc., of which he is the CEO, The Daily Beast reports. On one day alone, Trump spent $506,846 on air travel. The Trump campaign also makes frequent stops at Trump Cafe and Trump Grill, located in Trump Tower.
Trump is the only candidate to have recorded paying businesses with his own name in the title, perhaps because doing so is a legal gray area. While by law candidates cannot profit off their own campaigns, it gets confusing when a candidate is using his own money to pay his own businesses. On the other hand, the Federal Election Commission doesn't differentiate between a candidate's own money and money given to the candidate by the public.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"It doesn't make sense for it to be a violation," Paul Ryan of the Campaign Legal Center said, although he agreed that technically it was a violation. A campaign finance attorney who spoke with The Daily Beast had a different word for it: Recycling.
-
Jonathan Powell: who is the man behind Keir Starmer's foreign policy?Today's Big Question Prime minister's national security adviser is a 'world-class operator'
-
Summer sipping: the best fruit beersThe Week Recommends Check out these delightfully refreshing sweet and sour brews
-
How Putin misunderstood his past victoriesIn Depth Though Vladimir Putin has led Russia to a number of grisly military triumphs, they may have misled him when planning the invasion of Ukraine
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
