Donald Trump’s main White House fundraising operation in 2024 has sharply increased spending on the former president’s properties in recent months, funneling money into his businesses at a time when he faces serious legal jeopardy and is in desperate need of cash .
Trump’s joint fundraising committee wrote three checks in February and one in March to his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, for a total of $411,287, and another in March to Trump National Doral Miami for $62,337, according to a report filed with the federal election. Commission this week.
Federal law and FEC regulations allow donor funds to be spent on a candidate’s business as long as the campaign returns fair market value, experts say. Trump has been doing it for years, funneling millions in campaign cash into his sprawling business empire to pay for expenses such as the use of his personal plane for political events, rent at Trump Tower and events at his properties, including hotels and private clubs.
Although the practice is legal, some campaign finance experts believe it raises ethical concerns when a candidate generates personal income by running for office.
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“When voters see something like this happening, it contributes to their distrust of the political system and the motives of their elected officials,” said Shanna Ports, senior legal counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit accountability organization to the government.
Trump is facing massive legal costs amid multiple civil and criminal lawsuits
The money Trump’s campaign is spending on his businesses could help the former president as he faces a major cash crunch.
Trump has been hit with a pair of major financial judgments after losing two civil lawsuits.
He posted a $91.6 million bond in a defamation case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, and a $175 million bond in a fraud case involving falsification of business records. New York’s attorney general is questioning whether the deal Trump made to make the larger bond payment is financially sound.
The payments Trump’s campaign has made to his companies are small compared to his large financial judgments, but have increased in recent months.
The Trump campaign and its affiliated political committees have paid Trump-owned companies at least $4.9 million since the start of 2023, according to a USA TODAY analysis. The majority of that money – $4.1 million – went to TAG Air, Inc. for air travel.
Trump lists TAG Air, Inc as one of his assets according to his latest financial disclosure required to presidential candidates, valued at between $5 million and $25 million. It operates its private plane, nicknamed Trump Force One.
Trump’s various campaign committees and a super PAC controlled by his supporters have also spent at least $809,000 on his properties since early last year.
Campaign spending at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Doral in Miami
The largest share of campaign spending at Trump properties since the start of 2023 — $663,000 — occurred at Mar-a-Lago, with the bulk occurring in February. It is not clear which events the money went to.
A spokeswoman for Trump did not respond to specific questions about campaign spending at his properties, instead sending a statement attacking President Joe Biden.
Other GOP candidates have also spent significant campaign money at Trump properties.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno’s campaign of Ohio spent $109,000 on “event catering” at Mar-a-Lago in April, December and January 2023, records show. Trump endorsed Moreno in December. Moreno won the primary in March and will face three-term Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in November.
Nevada U.S. Senate candidate Jim Marchant’s campaign spent about $67,000 on “event venue rentals and catering” at Mar-a-Lago in November and December. Trump endorsed Marchant in his failed bid to become Nevada secretary of state in 2022. Marchant is now trying to unseat first-term Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen.
A PAC called Giuliani Defense spent $2,400 on fundraising and dining at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, in January. That PAC spent $540,000 on legal fees, according to FEC filings. Trump hosted a fundraiser for Rudy Giuliani in Bedminster in September to help with the former New York mayor’s legal fees, which stem in part from the criminal charges Giuliani is facing in Fulton County, Georgia, for trying to help Trump to overturn the 2020 elections.
Trump hosted a party at Mar-a-Lago on March 5 with a large group of supporters to watch the Super Tuesday primary results from 16 states. He also held a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago in October that drew hundreds of supporters, including U.S. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Green and Byron Donalds, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and actress Roseanne Barr.
Another fundraiser at Trump National Doral in March was hosted by former Ambassador Carlos Trujillo, with the money benefiting the Make America Great Again, Inc. super PAC.
The Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, which is raising money for Trump’s campaign, and his Save America leadership PAC accounted for the bulk of the spending on Trump properties, while other expenses were paid by Trump’s main campaign committee, the MAGA Inc. super PAC and Save America.
Concerns about Trump’s business conflicts date back to the 2016 election
Questions about how Trump’s companies have profited from his political career have continued to swirl around him throughout the former president’s three campaigns and his four years in the White House.
Under pressure to avoid potential conflicts of interest between his role as president and his extensive business activities, Trump declared after winning the 2016 election that he would not make any “new deals.” The incoming president also put his two adult sons in charge of the family business, which was managed by a trust that critics said was not strong enough to avoid potential ethical conflicts.
Lawsuits accusing Trump of violating the Constitution’s emoluments clauses during his presidency were unsuccessful. Critics said those trying to influence Trump’s administration funneled money to his businesses, including a hotel near the White House in Washington, D.C. that has since been sold and renamed the Waldorf Astoria.
America Democracy Legal Fund filed a complaint with the FEC in 2016 alleging that “Mr. Trump is using money from his presidential campaign to advance his business and personal interests.” The complaint was dismissed, but some campaign finance experts remain concerned.
“People should run for office because they want to serve the public, not because they want to enrich themselves,” Ports said. “So the fact that campaigns are allowed to pay for the candidate’s revenue raises these concerns. Although it is legal, it creates a kind of negative impression of the election system.”
Richard Briffault, a law professor at Columbia Law School, said Trump’s use of campaign funds in his businesses may not be illegal, but it is “a little bit risky.”
‘No one has ever seen anything like this’
Briffault said the only comparable political candidate with such a vast holding may be former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who ran for president as a Democrat, but even then they are not an exact comparison. “Everything with Trump, no one has ever seen anything like it,” he said.
The most important thing Trump’s companies need to do is charge his campaign and PACs the same amount they would charge any other paying customer for the services. But there’s also an ethical question about whether the campaign and the PACs can get a better deal elsewhere.
“How much are they asking? And to what extent do they place people who may be staying somewhere else, where it can be cheaper?” Briffault asked. “You can imagine there are cheaper locations for these things, but they keep them there on purpose.”
Trump’s leadership PAC has also spent huge sums on lawyers as the president faces four criminal cases. He is currently on trial in New York City in a case involving alleged payments to an adult film star during the 2016 presidential campaign to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual affair.
Since days after the 2020 election, PAC Save America leadership has spent more than $72.5 million on legal bills for many of the same companies representing him in his civil and criminal cases. That fund is responsible for the bulk of his legal expenses, but his affiliated committees have spent millions more.
Spending money on legal issues is not unusual for a campaign, but campaign finance experts say Trump has pushed the boundaries of what is allowed.
