New York Times: Trump’s ‘Winter White House’ - A Peek at the Exclusive Members’ List at Mar-a-Lago

By Nicholas Confessore, Maggie Haberman and Eric Lipton:

On any given weekend, you might catch President Trump’s son-in-law and top Mideast dealmaker, Jared Kushner, by the beachside soft-serve ice cream machine, or his reclusive chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, on the dining patio. If you are lucky, the president himself could stop by your table for a quick chat. But you will have to pay $200,000 for the privilege — and the few available spots are going fast.

Virtually overnight, Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s members-only Palm Beach, Fla., club, has been transformed into the part-time capital of American government, a so-called winter White House where Mr. Trump has entertained a foreign head of state, health care industry executives and other presidential guests.

But Mr. Trump’s gatherings at Mar-a-Lago — he arrived there on Friday afternoon, his third weekend visit in a row — have also created an arena for potential political influence rarely seen in American history: a kind of Washington steakhouse on steroids, situated in a sunny playground of the rich and powerful, where members and their guests enjoy a level of access that could elude even the best-connected of lobbyists.

Membership lists reviewed by The New York Times show that the club’s nearly 500 paying members include dozens of real estate developers, Wall Street financiers, energy executives and others whose businesses could be affected by Mr. Trump’s policies. At least three club members are under consideration for an ambassadorship. Most of the 500 have had memberships predating Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, and there are a limited number of memberships still available.

William I. Koch, who oversees a major mining and fuels company, belongs to Mar-a-Lago, as does the billionaire trader Thomas Peterffy, who spent more than $8 million on political ads in 2012 warning of creeping socialism in America.

Another member is George Norcross, an insurance executive and the South Jersey Democratic Party boss, whose friendship with Mr. Trump dates to the president’s Atlantic City years, when Mr. Norcross held insurance contracts with Mr. Trump’s casinos, and Mr. Trump wrangled with the state’s Democratic leaders over tax treatment of the properties. Yet another member is Janet Weiner, part owner and chief financial officer of the Rockstar energy drink company, which has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying federal officials to avoid tighter regulations on its products.

Bruce Toll, a real estate executive who co-founded Toll Brothers, one of the nation’s largest home builders, and who is still active in the industry, owns a home nearby and frequently sees Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago, he said. While they did not discuss any of Mr. Toll’s specific projects, he said, the two would occasionally discuss national issues, such as Mr. Trump’s plans to increase spending on highways and other infrastructure projects.

“Maybe you ought to do this or that,” Mr. Toll said of the kind of advice that Mr. Trump got from club members.

The Full Story (February 18, 2017)

Washington Post: Trump Family’s Elaborate Lifestyle is a ‘Logistical Nightmare’ — at Taxpayer Expense

By Drew Harwell, Amy Brittain and Jonathan O'Connell:

On Friday, President Trump and his entourage will jet for the third straight weekend to a working getaway at his oceanfront Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla.

On Saturday, Trump’s sons Eric and Don Jr., with their Secret Service details in tow, will be nearly 8,000 miles away in the United Arab Emirates, attending the grand opening of a Trump-brand golf resort in the “Beverly Hills of Dubai.”

Meanwhile, New York police will keep watch outside Trump Tower in Manhattan, the chosen home of first lady Melania Trump and son Barron. And the tiny township of Bedminster, N.J., is preparing for the daunting prospect that the local Trump golf course will serve as a sort of northern White House for as many as 10 weekends a year.

Barely a month into the Trump presidency, the unusually elaborate lifestyle of America’s new first family is straining the Secret Service and security officials, stirring financial and logistical concerns in several local communities, and costing far beyond what has been typical for past presidents — a price tag that, based on past assessments of presidential travel and security costs, could balloon into the hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of a four-year term.

Adding to the costs and complications is Trump’s inclination to conduct official business surrounded by crowds of people, such as his decision last weekend to host Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a working dinner while Mar-a-Lago members dined nearby.

The Full Story (February 16, 2017)

The Atlantic: Mnuchin Wavers on Questions Involving Trump's Foreign Debt

By Alexia Fernández Campbell:

Several hours into his confirmation hearing, treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin appeared willing to work with Republicans and Democrats in Congress on nearly every one of their concerns. Lowering the corporate tax rate: absolutely. Tax breaks for middle-income Americans: definitely. Punishing countries that manipulate their currencies: yes. Making sure the IRS is well funded: of course.

His eagerness to please wavered only a few times, such as the moment Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, began to question him about President-elect Donald Trump’s business interests abroad, and more particularly, the unknown amount of debt he has with foreign lenders.

* * *

“What I want is to get a commitment from you today that you will report to this committee what percentage of the debt against the Trump enterprise is held by foreign interests. That is your job as the secretary of treasury. I want your commitment that you will report to this committee as soon as you are able to get that information from the new president.”

Mnuchin wouldn’t give her that.

“I am not making the commitment today to report to the committee on anything. What I am willing to do is—to the extent I am confirmed—I am willing to speak to the [committee] chairman and make sure that whatever the committee thinks it needs, I will discuss with the president.”

“In your job as treasury secretary, when determining national security interests based on foreign investment, the American people need to know how much debt is owed by the Trump business to foreign entities, and if that could have a direct impact on our national security,” McCaskill said.

“I think you have asked some interesting questions on which I will follow-up,” Mnuchin replied, before moving to the next line of questioning.

The Full Story (January 19, 2017)

Think Progress: Steve Mnuchin Gets Grilled for His Off-Shore Holdings in Cayman Islands

By Josh Israel:

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) repeatedly pressed Trump Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin on Thursday about his initial failure to fully disclose the extent of his involvement in an off-shore Cayman Islands hedge fund and urged him to crack down on the loophole that allows investors to avoid taxes by moving money there. But Mnuchin repeatedly dodged questions about the purpose of these funds and would only commit to working to “simplify the tax code.”

At the Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing, Mnuchin acknowledged, amid questioning by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), that corporations he had registered in Anguilla and the Cayman Islands — tax havens often used by rich investors to avoid U.S. taxes — were little more than post office boxes, with no employees or offices.

During his questions for the nominee, Menendez first asked why Mnuchin’s initial financial disclosure forms had not included nearly $100 million worth of real estate assets and the fact that he was a director of Dune Capital International Ltd. in the Cayman Islands. “It’s almost like an open-book test,” he noted, “and yet you did not answer in that questionnaire listing your position as director of a Cayman Islands corporation and as manager chairman and director of eight additional shell corporations.” The information was corrected, Menendez observed, “only after the committee staff having done their due diligence brought the missing information to your attention.”

Mnuchin explained that the forms “were very complicated” and that he had should have waited until his team could fully review his holdings.

Menendez then pressed him on why he had created the entities, noting that Mnuchin had sworn to the committee that he had paid all federal taxes on his off-shore investments but may have aided others he was “helping and making money from” avoid doing so.

Mnuchin said that his customers did not necessarily move their money to off-shore tax havens to avoid taxes, observing “these are very complicated issues.”

The Full Story (January 19, 2017)

Truth-Out: Wall Street's Win-Win With Trump

By Mike Lofgren:

The fact that America's premier corporate raider, Carl Icahn, will advise Trump on financial regulation (and may be appointed SEC chairman), and that his pick for Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, was a Goldman executive for 16 years, does not inspire confidence that their management of the economy will be any different from that of their predecessors before the 2008 crash.

Mnuchin is only one of several Goldman alumni destined for top positions in the Trump administration. Goldman president Gary Cohn has been tapped to head the National Economic Council. Hedge fund manager and former Goldman executive Anthony Scaramucci is a vocal Trump media surrogate and is widely expected to receive a government position. (Responding to a question by CNN about the alleged demonization of bankers, Scaramucci responded, "I think the cabal against the bankers is over," neatly inverting the fact that the derogatory term "cabal" has normally been associated with bankers, rather than their critics).

The pseudo-populist Stephen Bannon, Trump's chief of strategy, is also a Goldman spawn. It is hardly surprising that Goldman Sachs's stock has risen 30 percent since November. Does anyone seriously think "this time will be different" compared to the Bush debacle?
The Full Story (January 2017)

Think Progress: Trump Said He Had $315 Million in Debt. He Left Out $1.5 Billion.

By Jedd Legum:

A report this afternoon from the Wall Street Journal, however, revealed that Trump’s disclosure was the tip of the iceberg. The FEC required Trump only to report debt from entities he fully controls. The disclosure left out “more than $1.5 billion lent to partnerships that are 30%-owned by him.” That debt has been securitized and is owed to at least 150 financial entities.

These financial institutions include many firms that are under the scrutiny of the federal agencies that Trump will soon control. Wells Fargo, for example, which services over $900 million in loans connected to Trump, “is currently facing scrutiny from federal regulators surrounding its fraudulent sales practices and other issues.”

Trump will soon appoint the top regulators who will be responsible for scrutinizing the bank’s conduct.

The Full Story (January 5, 2017)

Washington Post: Trump, Cabinet Could Avoid Millions in Taxes Thanks to This Little-Known Law

By Drew Harwell:

President-elect Donald Trump’s ultra-wealthy Cabinet nominees will be able to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes in the coming weeks when they sell some of their holdings to avoid conflicts of interest in their new positions.

The tax advantage will allow Trump officials, forced by ethics laws to sell certain assets, to defer the weighty tax bills they would otherwise owe on the profits from selling stock and other holdings.

The benefit is one of the more subtle ways that the millionaires and billionaires of Trump’s White House, which already will be the wealthiest administration in modern American history, could benefit financially from their transition into the nation’s halls of power.

The legal tax maneuver, offered for years to executive-branch appointees and employees, was designed to help ease the sting of being forced to suddenly sell investments.

But the federal program, encoded in Section 2634 of federal ethics laws and known as a “certificate of divestiture,” has never been tested quite like this. Trump’s Cabinet picks have amassed assets worth billions of dollars from lifetimes in banking and investing, much of which they will be able to sell tax-free.

The Full Story (December 2, 2016)

Truthout: The Six Worst Things About Trump's Tax Plan

By Frank Clemente:

1. Gives huge tax breaks to the rich and corporations, loses $6.2 trillion over 10 years, and if paid for will require deep cuts to domestic services. Three-quarters of lost revenues are from corporate and business tax breaks largely benefiting the rich. The top 0.1 percent of households, which includes Trump's, will get an annual tax cut of about $1.1 million each. Nearly half (47 percent) of the tax cuts will go to the top 1 percent of households; each one will get an average tax break of nearly $215,000 a year. The bottom 20 percent will get a tax cut of $110. Trump's plan will increase the deficit by $7 trillion, unless massive cuts are made to benefits and services that working Americans depend on.

* * *

5. Cuts taxes on hedge funds and other "pass-through" businesses by $900 billion -- personally benefiting Trump -- and allows high-wage employees to dodge another $600 billion. Many Wall Street firms, law practices and other big-money outfits organize as partnerships or other business entities that allow them to pay their business taxes at individual rates. Trump would cut the tax rate on the owners of these so-called "pass-through entities" by as much as two-thirds, to just 15 percent. Owners of larger pass-throughs would be taxed at the dividend rate of 20 percent. These special low tax rates are expected to entice half of high-paid wage earners to call themselves contractors in order to be treated as pass-through entities. Trump is the sole or principal owner of 500 pass-through entities. He would personally benefit from this massive tax giveaway that's been appropriately dubbed the "Trump Loophole."

The Full Story (November 28, 2016)

[Special] Talking Points Memo: Maybe The Answer Is That He Can't Divest

By Josh Marshall

After Trump got into that scuffle with Boeing, reporters asked about his ownership of Boeing stock. Trump replied that he'd already sold that stock. So there was no problem. But there's a bit more to it than that.

According to his spokesman, Trump sold all of his stock back in June, a portfolio which his disclosures suggest was worth as much as $38 million. Trump told Matt Lauer that he sold the stock because he was confident he'd win and "would have a tremendous ... conflict of interest owning all of these different companies" while serving as President.

Now, c'mon. Donald Trump sold off all his equities more than six months before he could become president because he was concerned about conflicts of interest? Please. That doesn't pass the laugh test.

But consider this. During the primaries Donald Trump loaned his campaign roughly $50 million. Over the course of the spring, as it became increasingly likely he'd be the nominee, that loan became increasingly conspicuous. Donors were wary of donating big money because they didn't want him to use it to pay himself back for that loan. Many suggested that he might not actually be able to part with that money. It became a big issue and Trump refused to forgive the loans.

It was only in June that Trump finally gave in and forgave the loan; this was confirmed in the June FEC disclosure that came out in late July. Who knows why Trump sold off all his stock holdings? Maybe he just had a feeling. Maybe he thought the market was too hot. Maybe he just had a spasm of prospective ethical concern. But let's be honest. The most obvious explanation is that forgiving that debt from his campaign required him — through whatever mix of contingencies — to free up more cash, either for the campaign or personal expenses or perhaps to have a certain amount of cash on hand because of terms of other debts. It does not seem plausible at all that the timing is coincidental.

Since we don't have Trump's tax returns, there's just a huge amount we don't know about his businesses. What we do know is that Trump appears to wildly exaggerate the scale of his wealth and exhibit a stinginess that is very hard to square with a man of the kinds of means he claims. A heavily leveraged business, one that is indebted and dependent on cash flow to keep everything moving forward, can be kind of like a shark. It has to keep moving forward or it dies.

Perhaps Trump simply doesn't feel like he can trust anyone else to keep the whole shambling enterprise afloat. More plausibly, and consistent with Trump's history over the last couple decades, Trump's business is dependent on an ever expanding number of deals not just to grow but to stay afloat at all. It is certainly plausible that if Trump simply sold off his company in toto, he'd be in debt. Maybe there wouldn't be anything left to put in a blind trust.

The Full Story (December 8, 2016)

See also: He Won't Because He Can't from December 9, 2016.

Vox: President Trump and the Trump Organization are the Biggest Conflict of Interest in US History

By Matthew Yglesias:

Trump’s plan, by contrast, is simply to hand over management of the Trump Organization network of businesses to a council composed of his children and some other executives. He has chosen to call this council a “blind trust,” and some media outlets have unaccountably agreed to go along with it. But even in the age of Trump, words have meaning, and asking your kids to manage your affairs for you is not what a blind trust is.

But beyond that, a blind trust arrangement is fundamentally inappropriate for the nature of Trump’s assets. Recent wealthy presidents — the Bushes, John Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt — have been essentially rich kids who inherited dynastic fortunes that they invested passively. Trump is also a rich kid who inherited a dynastic fortune. And had he invested it passively, he would be even richer today than he is now. But he chose instead to take his money and build a series of companies — mostly companies bearing his name — with it.

The way to deconflict this would be to set up a mechanism to sell the Trump Organization (perhaps to a wealthy Trump supporter to whom the president-elect is already indebted, like Peter Thiel) and then plow the cash proceeds into a new blind trust.

As long as the company is intact and under the control of Trump’s children and direct heirs, the conflict of interest has not been even slightly mitigated. Further exacerbating the problem is the well-known fact that Trump’s three oldest children — and Ivanka’s husband, Jared Kushner — are some of his closest political advisers. The council of kids running the Trump Organization, for example, have also been appointed to the council running the Trump transition project. There will be perfect and intimate coordination between Trump’s policymaking and Trump’s business life.

The Full Story (November 14, 2016)

[Special] New York Times: Why Donald Trump Should Not Be President

By Times Editorial Board:

Despite his towering properties, Mr. Trump has a record rife with bankruptcies and sketchy ventures like Trump University, which authorities are investigating after numerous complaints of fraud. His name has been chiseled off his failed casinos in Atlantic City.

Mr. Trump’s brazen refusal to disclose his tax returns — as Mrs. Clinton and other nominees for decades have done — should sharpen voter wariness of his business and charitable operations. Disclosure would undoubtedly raise numerous red flags; the public record already indicates that in at least some years he made full use of available loopholes and paid no taxes.

Mr. Trump has been opaque about his questionable global investments in Russia and elsewhere, which could present conflicts of interest as president, particularly if his business interests are left in the hands of his children, as he intends. Investigations have found self-dealing. He notably tapped $258,000 in donors’ money from his charitable foundation to settle lawsuits involving his for-profit businesses, according to The Washington Post.

* * *

He used the shameful “birther” campaign against President Obama’s legitimacy as a wedge for his candidacy. But then he opportunistically denied his own record, trolling for undecided voters by conceding that Mr. Obama was a born American. In the process he tried to smear Mrs. Clinton as the instigator of the birther canard and then fled reporters’ questions.

Since his campaign began, NBC News has tabulated that Mr. Trump has made 117 distinct policy shifts on 20 major issues, including three contradictory views on abortion in one eight-hour stretch. As reporters try to pin down his contradictions, Mr. Trump has mocked them at his rallies. He said he would “loosen” libel laws to make it easier to sue news organizations that displease him.

* * *

His plan for cutting the national debt was far from a confidence builder: He said he might try to persuade creditors to accept less than the government owed. This fanciful notion, imported from Mr. Trump’s debt-steeped real estate world, would undermine faith in the government and the stability of global financial markets. His tax-cut plan has been no less alarming. It was initially estimated to cost $10 trillion in tax revenue, then, after revisions, maybe $3 trillion, by one adviser’s estimate. There is no credible indication of how this would be paid for — only assurances that those in the upper brackets will be favored.

The Full Story (September 25, 2016)

Bonus - New York Times: Hillary Clinton For President:

Mrs. Clinton and her team have produced detailed proposals on crime, policing and race relations, debt-free college and small-business incentives, climate change and affordable broadband. Most of these proposals would benefit from further elaboration on how to pay for them, beyond taxing the wealthiest Americans. They would also depend on passage by Congress.

That means that, to enact her agenda, Mrs. Clinton would need to find common ground with a destabilized Republican Party, whose unifying goal in Congress would be to discredit her. Despite her political scars, she has shown an unusual capacity to reach across the aisle.

When Mrs. Clinton was sworn in as a senator from New York in 2001, Republican leaders warned their caucus not to do anything that might make her look good. Yet as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, she earned the respect of Republicans like Senator John McCain with her determination to master intricate military matters.

Her most lasting achievements as a senator include a federal fund for long-term health monitoring of 9/11 first responders, an expansion of military benefits to cover reservists and the National Guard, and a law requiring drug companies to improve the safety of their medications for children.

Below the radar, she fought for money for farmers, hospitals, small businesses and environmental projects. Her vote in favor of the Iraq war is a black mark, but to her credit, she has explained her thinking rather than trying to rewrite that history.

The Full Story (September 25, 2016)

[Special] Cincinnati Enquirer: It Has to be Hillary Clinton

By Enquirer Editorial Board:

Trump is a clear and present danger to our country. He has no history of governance that should engender any confidence from voters. Trump has no foreign policy experience, and the fact that he doesn't recognize it – instead insisting that, "I know more about ISIS than the generals do" – is even more troubling. His wild threats to blow Iranian ships out of the water if they make rude gestures at U.S. ships is just the type of reckless, cowboy diplomacy Americans should fear from a Trump presidency. Clinton has been criticized as being hawkish but has shown a measured approach to the world's problems. Do we really want someone in charge of our military and nuclear codes who has an impulse control problem? The fact that so many top military and national security officials are not supporting Trump speaks volumes.

Clinton, meanwhile, was a competent secretary of state, with far stronger diplomatic skills than she gets credit for. Yes, mistakes were made in Benghazi, and it was tragic that four Americans lost their lives in the 2012 terror attacks on the U.S. consulate there. But the incident was never the diabolical conspiracy that Republicans wanted us to believe, and Clinton was absolved of blame after lengthy investigations. As the nation's top diplomat, Clinton was well-traveled, visiting numerous countries and restoring U.S. influence internationally. She was part of President Barack Obama's inner circle when the decision was made to go after and kill Osama bin Laden and negotiated U.N. sanctions that led to the Iran nuclear deal.

* * *

This editorial board has been consistent in its criticism of his policies and temperament beginning with the Republican primary. We've condemned his childish insults; offensive remarks to women, Hispanics and African-Americans; and the way he has played on many Americans' fears and prejudices to further himself politically. Trump brands himself as an outsider untainted by special interests, but we see a man utterly corrupted by self-interest. His narcissistic bid for the presidency is more about making himself great than America. Trump tears our country and many of its people down with his words so that he can build himself up. What else are we left to believe about a man who tells the American public that he alone can fix what ails us?

While Clinton has been relentlessly challenged about her honesty, Trump was the primary propagator of arguably the biggest lie of the past eight years: that Obama wasn't born in the United States. Trump has played fast and loose with the support of white supremacist groups. He has praised some of our country's most dangerous enemies – see Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un and Saddam Hussein – while insulting a sitting president, our military generals, a Gold Star family and prisoners of war like Sen. John McCain. Of late, Trump has toned down his divisive rhetoric, sticking to carefully constructed scripts and teleprompters. But going two weeks without saying something misogynistic, racist or xenophobic is hardly a qualification for the most important job in the world. Why should anyone believe that a Trump presidency would look markedly different from his offensive, erratic, stance-shifting presidential campaign?

Some believe Trump's business acumen would make him the better choice to move America's slow recovery into a full stride. It’s true that he has created jobs, but he also has sent many overseas and left a trail of unpaid contractors in his wake. His refusal to release his tax returns draws into question both Trump’s true income and whether he is paying his fair share of taxes. Even if you consider Trump a successful businessman, running a government is not the same as being the CEO of a company. The United States cannot file bankruptcy to avoid paying its debts.

The Full Story (September 23, 2016)

New York Times: Donald Trump Used Legally Dubious Method to Avoid Paying Taxes

By David Barstow, Mike McIntire, Patricia Cohen, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner:

But newly obtained documents show that in the early 1990s, as he scrambled to stave off financial ruin, Mr. Trump avoided reporting hundreds of millions of dollars in taxable income by using a tax avoidance maneuver so legally dubious his own lawyers advised him that the Internal Revenue Service would most likely declare it improper if he were audited.

Thanks to this one maneuver, which was later outlawed by Congress, Mr. Trump potentially escaped paying tens of millions of dollars in federal personal income taxes. It is impossible to know for sure because Mr. Trump has declined to release his tax returns, or even a summary of his returns, breaking a practice followed by every Republican and Democratic presidential candidate for more than four decades.

Tax experts who reviewed the newly obtained documents for The New York Times said Mr. Trump’s tax avoidance maneuver, conjured from ambiguous provisions of highly technical tax court rulings, clearly pushed the edge of the envelope of what tax laws permitted at the time. “Whatever loophole existed was not ‘exploited’ here, but stretched beyond any recognition,” said Steven M. Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center who helped draft tax legislation in the early 1990s.

The Full Story (October 31, 2016)

Washington Post: Donald Trump is Refusing to Pay His Campaign Pollster Three-quarters of a Million Dollars

By Matea Gold:

Donald Trump's hiring of pollster Tony Fabrizio in May was viewed as a sign that the real estate mogul was finally bringing seasoned operatives into his insurgent operation.

But the Republican presidential nominee appears to have taken issue with some of the services provided by the veteran GOP strategist, who has advised candidates from 1996 GOP nominee Bob Dole to Florida Gov. Rick Scott. The Trump campaign's latest Federal Election Commission report shows that it is disputing nearly $767,000 that Fabrizio's firm says it is still owed for polling.

Trump campaign officials declined to provide details about the reason the campaign has declined to pay the sum to Fabrizio Lee, the pollster's Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based firm. “This is an administrative issue that we're resolving internally,” said senior communications adviser Jason Miller. Fabrizio did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump has repeatedly been accused of failing to pay vendors and contractors hired by his real estate empire, including painters, dish washers, real estate brokers and a music store that provided pianos for his Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. The billionaire has said he pays fairly and that he has withheld payments only when he was dissatisfied with someone's services.

The Full Story (October 31, 2016)

Talking Points Memo: Trump Gives $10 Million To Campaign, Still $34 Million Short Of Promise

By Julie Bykowicz and Chad Day of the Associated Press:

Donald Trump has repeatedly said he will spend $100 million or more of his own money on his presidential bid. Yet even with a fresh donation, he is $34 million short of that promise.

The Republican nominee gave his campaign another $10 million, a Federal Election Commission report filed late Friday showed. At rallies earlier in the day, he told supporters he'd contributed anew. "Boy, am I spending a lot of my money," he said in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

He has now made a personal investment of about $66 million over the course of the primary and general elections.

The latest infusion comes as Democrat Hillary Clinton hold a striking cash advantage over Trump, FEC reports filed Thursday show. As of last week, Clinton and her Democratic partners had $153 million in the bank, more than double the resources as on the Trump side.

Trump, a New York businessman who says he is worth billions of dollars, invested heavily throughout his GOP primary race. Then, during the general election, he slowed his personal contributions to about $2 million per month.

The Full Story (October 29, 2016)

Talking Points Memo: Despite Repeated Claims, Trump Now Won't Commit To Spending $100M

By Caitlin MacNeal:

TPM found at least six times Trump has projected spending $100 million of his own money on the campaign over the course of the past month:

On ABC's "Good Morning America"

"I mean, look, I'm going to be in for over $100 million," Trump said on "Good Morning America" on Wednesday Oct. 26.

When host George Stephanopoulos noted that Trump had only spent about $56 million, Trump insisted that he's spent more.

"Well, no, it's $61 million," Trump replied. "But I'm spending a lot of money. And that doesn't include everything. I'm spending a lot of money.”

On CNN Outside His D.C. Hotel

"I will have over $100 million in the campaign, and I'm prepared to go much more than that," Trump told CNN's Dana Bash on Wednesday, Oct. 26 in an interview outside his new hotel in Washington, D.C.

At A Campaign Rally In North Carolina

"It matters to me if we win or lose. I'll have over $100 million of my own money in this campaign," Trump said at a rally in Fletcher, North Carolina, on Oct. 21 while mulling the prospect of losing the presidential race.

At A Rally In Colorado

"Remember, by the time this ends…," Trump told the crowd at a rally in Colorado on Oct. 18. "I will have spent over $100 million on this campaign. Hillary has spent nothing. She gets all her money from the special interest and donors. My interest is you."

At The Second Presidential Debate

"Now Hillary mentioned something about contributions. Just so you understand, so I will have, in my race, more than 100 million put in of my money. Meaning I’m not taking all of this big money from all of these different corporations like she’s doing. What I ask is this. I’m putting in more - by the time it is finished, I’ll have more than 100 million dollars invested," Trump said at the second presidential debate held on Oct. 9. "Pretty much self-funding mine, we’re raising money for the Republican party and we’re doing tremendously under small donations, $61 average or so."

At A Rally In Michigan

"And by the way – I’m spending a lot of money on my campaign and why isn’t she spending some money on hers?" Trump asked the crowd at a rally in Novi, Michigan, on Sept. 30. "I’m spending $100 million. I think I’ll go over $100 million dollars."

The Full Story (October 28, 2016)

See also: "Wow. Trump Has Been Lying for Weeks About Money to His Campaign" by Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo

Washington Post: Trump Raises About Half as Much as Clinton in Campaign’s Final Weeks, Finance Reports Show

By Sean Sullivan, Abby Phillip and Ed O'Keefe:

The Republican nominee raised just $28.9 million for his campaign committee over that period, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. His campaign and two joint GOP fundraising committees raised a total of $61 million in the first 19 days of the month -- a fall-off from September, when the three committees together pulled in $100 million, including $53 million for the Trump campaign. Trump had just $16 million in his campaign coffers on Oct. 19, compared to Hillary Clinton’s $62 million.

And there was scant evidence that the real estate billionaire will end up giving the $100 million he has claimed he is donating to his bid. Trump gave his campaign about $31,000 in in-kind contributions in the first 19 days of the month — down from the $2 million a month in cash he had been donating. His personal contributions to his campaign now total a little more than $56 million.

The Full Story (October 27, 2016)

Washington Post: Trump Stops Holding High-Dollar Fundraisers That Were Raising Big Cash for the GOP

By Matea Gold:

Donald Trump’s campaign said Tuesday that it has scheduled no more big-money fundraising events to benefit the Republican Party, another sign of the GOP nominee’s struggling campaign and a serious blow to the party’s get-out-the-vote operations with less than two weeks to go until Election Day.

The consequences of halting major fundraisers will compound the challenges facing a candidate and a party already straining to match Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s much larger and better-

financed operation. Unlike Clinton, who has an extensive turnout operation of her own, Trump and many other GOP candidates down the ballot are relying heavily on the Republican National Committee to bring voters to the polls.

* * *

Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s national finance chairman, said in an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday that Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee between the party and the campaign, held its last formal fundraiser on Oct. 19.

“We’ve kind of wound down,” Mnuchin said, referring to formal fundraisers. “But the online fundraising continues to be strong.”

The Full Story (October 25, 2016)

Washington Post: Donald Trump is in a Funk - Bitter, Hoarse and Pondering, ‘If I Lose. . .’

By Jenna Johnson:

“What a waste of time if we don’t pull this off,” Trump said. “You know, these guys have said: ‘It doesn’t matter if you win or lose. There’s never been a movement like this in the history of this country.’ I say, it matters to me if we win or lose. So I’ll have over $100 million of my own money in this campaign.” “So, if I lose,” Trump continued as the crowd remained unusually quiet, “if I lose, I will consider this —” Trump didn’t finish his sentence, but he didn’t really need to. After weeks of controversy and declining poll numbers, Trump and his campaign have settled into a dark funk. Even as he vows to prevail in the race, the GOP nominee’s mood has soured with less than three weeks to go until Election Day.

The Full Story (October 21, 2016)

[Special] Talking Points Memo: Trump - My Life Hasn't Been 'Easy,' My Dad Gave Me 'Small' $1M Loan

By Caitlin MacNeal:

During a town hall with NBC's "Today," an attendee asked Trump if he's ever been told "no."

"My whole life really has been a ‘no.’ And I fought through it," he responded.

"It has not been easy for me," he continued. "I started off in Brooklyn. My father gave me a small loan of a million dollars. I came into Manhattan, and I had to pay him back. And I had to pay him back with interest. But I came into Manhattan. I started buying up properties, and I did great."

Trump said that his father doubted him and felt his foray into Manhattan wouldn't work out.

"All my life I was told 'no,'" Trump said.

Town hall moderator Matt Lauer jumped in and said, "Let’s just put this in perspective. You said it hasn’t been easy for you, but ‘My dad gave me a million dollar loan.’ That probably is going to seem pretty easy to a lot of people."

"You’re right," Trump replied. "But a million dollars isn’t very much compared to what I’ve built."

The Full Story (October 26, 2015)