Trump Campaign Pumps $6 Million Into Trump Companies

Donald Trump has been a busy man for the past year, but it turns out running president has been surprisingly lucrative. New FEC filings show that the Trump campaigned has cycled over $6 million into Trump companies. In fact, his increased popularity and campaigning helped increase Trump’s revenue by nearly $200 million since he began running for president.

Trump’s willingness to mingle his campaign with his businesses raises two issues. First, Trump is no longer self-funding and is in desperate need of donations (around $40 million behind the Clinton camp in cash on hand). That means donated money will cycle into Trump businesses. The second issue concerns FEC regulations, which are notoriously complicated.

AP reports:

Wealthy political candidates in the past have walled off their business from their campaigns, but Trump embraces his companies. Public documents indicate his revenue has risen along with his presidential aspirations.

While Trump’s controversial comments have cost his businesses money — for example, the PGA Tour recently announced it would move its World Golf Championship from a Trump course to one in Mexico City — Trump reported in documents filed in May with federal regulators that his revenue had increased by roughly $190 million over the previous 17 months.

Trump’s campaign didn’t respond to detailed questions about the intermingling of his businesses and campaign.

Trump isn’t the first high-profile politician to run a campaign while managing large corporate assets. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and presidential contender Steve Forbes both ran companies bearing their name.

Both took great care to carefully separate their businesses and their campaigns, their former aides said, citing the complex maze of campaign finance regulations about using corporate resources. For instance, federal rules require a company to charge their campaigns fair-market value.

The Trump campaign— funded during the primary contest mostly by loans Trump made— appears to be properly documenting its use of the businessman’s assets in federal reports, leaving a record of his campaign’s finances and their impact on his self-reported financial largesse.