Now that GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has donors, he’s taking advantage of it by skyrocketing the rent at Trump Tower nearly fivefold.
The Huffington Post reports that the rent at Trump Tower, the headquarters of the Trump campaign, was $35,458 in March. It gradually increased to $72,800 at the end of May to $110,364 in June and finally, $169,758 in July.
Despite the increase in rent, Trump’s paid campaign staff has shrunk from the previous year: 197 to 172 in July. That number fluctuated in recent months, from 166 in May to 139 in June to 172 in July.
The Trump campaign’s excuse for the increase in rent despite the decrease in campaign staff is that they “expanded into larger quarters” and that “Mr. Trump makes a personal contribution of $2 million per month to the campaign, obviously a much higher amount than rent.”
The main reason for the increase in rent is likely due to the fact that most of Trump’s campaign spending comes from outside donors instead of his own money.
An anonymous Republican National Committee member was not pleased.
“If I was a donor, I’d want answers,” the member told The Huffington Post. “If they don’t have any more staff, and they’re paying five times more? That’s the kind of stuff I’d read and try to make an (attack) ad out of it.”
The RNC member later said, “Nobody cares when you’re spending your own money, but when you’re spending the donor’s $27, that could cause problems. Most campaigns run on a much tighter budget.”
Trump has found other ways to enrich himself since he won the nomination:
In addition to the rent for Trump Tower space in Manhattan, Trump has paid his eponymous golf courses and restaurants more than $260,000 since his campaign and the RNC struck a joint fundraising deal in mid-May, after he essentially locked up the GOP nomination. On May 18, the day the fundraising deal was announced, Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach was paid $29,715; Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, was paid $35,845; and Trump Restaurants LLC was paid $125,080, according to FEC records. Such large payments were much rarer when Trump was self-funding.
The Trump children have also enriched themselves through Trump’s campaign, as Vice News found that Trump used $7.7 million of campaign donations toward his businesses and his children:
In July alone, Trump’s campaign paid $169,758.33 in rent to Trump Tower Corporation LLC, $48,239.77 for rent and catering at Trump National Golf Club in Weschester, $1,000 to Trump Restaurants LLC, and $428.53 worth of Trump’s bottled water Trump Ice. In May, Trump’s campaign spent $3,938.58 at the vineyard run by his son Eric. Campaign dollars are also funneled to allies of Trump’s children. Each month, the campaign spends millions on apparel like the “Make America Great Again” trucker hats. The manufacturer, Ace Specialties, is owned by Christl Mahfouz, a board member on Eric Trump’s charitable foundation.
The intertwining of campaign and business takes shape in other ways. The day after daughter Ivanka gave her speech at the Republican convention wearing a dress from her eponymous fashion line, she tweeted about where people could buy it (Nordstroms.com and Macys.com quickly sold out).
Despite being behind in the polls, Trump seems more interested in squeezing more cash for himself and for his children than trying to defeat his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, which must be very irksome for donors.