Subject: RE: Trump making money off his campaign
From: "Freundlich, Christina" <[email-masked]>
To: "Roberts, Kelly" <[email-masked]>, RR2 <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 May 2016 07:21:47 -0700

This is great, thanks Kelly

From: Roberts, Kelly
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2016 10:21 AM
To: RR2
Subject: Trump making money off his campaign

Some of his past comments on making money off the campaign, plus a couple examples of him acting more like a sleazy salesman than a candidate

TRUMP REPEATEDLY BRAGS ABOUT MAKING MONEY OFF OF HIS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS

10/31/15: Donald Trump Bragged That He Actually Made A Profit Running For President - "If I Net It Out, I'm At Like A Million Bucks." "I'm Running for President. I have spent less money than any other candidate running for president and I'm number one. Now think of it. No think of it. No, think of 'em. So I've spent - and a big part of what I've spend is my airplane which I get reimbursed for. So that shows here - but I actually - so I've spent even less than people think. You have to put down market value. You play, whatever the hell it is, so they put it down there - so it's actually even better. But I've spent less money than any other candidate. We're number one. Others have spent 28 million. I think if I net it out, I'm at like a million bucks, right? So far it's been a good deal." [Trump Campaign Rally, Norfolk VA, 10/31/15]

In His Book, "Crippled America" Donald Trump Said His Income Rose Since He Entered The Presidential Race. In Donald Trump's book "Crippled America," "He reports that his net worth has gone up since he entered the presidential race and estimates it at more than $10 billion, considerably higher than where Bloomberg's Billionaires Index puts it. Trump, who is running a populist campaign, says his income for 2015 'will exceed $600 million.'" [Bloomberg, 10/27/15<http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-10-27/donald-trump-doing-a-ok-in-crippled-america->]

Donald Trump Said His Presidential Campaign Benefitted His Business "Because Of The Excitement Factor," Which He Said Was "Even More Of An Asset Internationally." "'I'm still running a business. It's doing phenomenal, and the hotels are doing even better because of the excitement factor,' he told The Post from his office on the 26th floor. The campaign, he says, is 'even more of an asset internationally. I have many projects all over the world and for those partners, in China, India and other countries, they read about the [presidential campaign] and they see the big picture,' Trump said. 'It's had a positive impact.' [New York Post, 1/24/16<http://nypost.com/2016/01/24/trump-still-chooses-the-color-of-the-carpets-in-his-buildings/>]

Trump In 2000: "I'm The Only Candidate Who Makes Money When He Runs." "There may be many reasons to run for president of the United States, but the chance to turn a profit on the campaign trail is generally not one of them. Unless the office-seeker happens to be Donald J. Trump. 'I'm the only candidate who makes money when he runs,' said Mr. Trump, who is toying with seeking the Reform Party's nomination for president. Mr. Trump commands $100,000 a speech, he said, adding, with his trademark hyperbole, that he was the highest-paid lecturer in the country." [New York Times, 1/9/00]

*         Trump Cited Paid Speeches He Was Making At Tony Robbins' Seminars While On The Campaign Trail And Said "It's Very Possible That I Could Be The First Presidential Candidate To Run And Make Money On It." "Trump had inked a deal with Tony Robbins, the frighteningly upbeat motivational speaker, by which Robbins would pay Trump $1 million to give ten speeches at his seminars around the country. Crucially, Trump had timed his political stops to coincide with Robbins' seminars, so that he was 'making a lot of money' on those campaign stops. 'It's very possible that I could be the first presidential candidate to run and make money on it,' Trump said, adding that 'there's no way a good businessman' would have blown the kind of money Steve Forbes had. I wondered whether Trump was proposing his own special version of campaign finance reform here. I also wondered where he was planning to come up with the $100 million he was promising to spend if nominated, considering that his cash flow seemed much more precarious than he claimed." [Fortune, 4/3/00<http://fortune.com/2000/04/03/what-does-donald-trump-really-want/?xid=soc_socialflow_twitter_FORTUNE>]

TRUMP REPEATEDLY TOUTS HIS PROPERTIES AND BOOKS AT HIS CAMPAIGN EVENTS

New York Times: "Virtually Every Trump Speech Includes A Reference To One Of His Hotels Or Casinos" And Sales Of His 1987 Book Skyrocketed After He Repeatedly Touted It On The Trail. "Virtually every Trump speech includes a reference to one of his hotels or casinos; recently he heaped praise on the Doral, the luxury golf resort outside Miami he acquired in 2012. He often suggests that the Obama administration should have read his book 'The Art of the Deal' before negotiating the Iran nuclear agreement. (As Mr. Wilson suspected, sales of that 1987 best seller have lately skyrocketed, from 3,000 copies in 2014 to 47,000 in 2015.)" [New York Times, 2/5/16<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/06/us/politics/donald-trumps-campaign-billed-as-self-funded-risks-little-of-his-fortune.html?_r=0>]

Trump Once Held A Campaign Press Conference, Then Led The National Media On A Tour Of His New Hotel. "It was billed as a campaign event, but all Donald Trump wanted to do was show off his fancy new property. Trump led a horde of national media on a literal runaround of the hotel he's building in the Old Post Office, just blocks from the White House he hopes to soon call home. 'Let's take a tour. Nobody asked about the hotel!' he declared as he concluded a half-hour press conference, leading a swarm of close to 200 reporters through the half-finished site. Even hardened Trump reporters shook their heads at the absurdity of his latest stunt." [Mashable, 3/21/16<http://mashable.com/2016/03/21/trump-hotel/#6pSVqxsUKkqF>]

*         HEADLINE: "And  Now, For A Commercial Break, Donald Trump Pitches His D.C. Hotel" [Washington Post, 3/21/16<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/and-now-for-a-commercial-break-donald-trump-pitches-his-dc-hotel/2016/03/21/1d732b9e-ef74-11e5-85a6-2132cf446d0a_story.html>]

TRUMP ONCE ESSENTIALLY TURNED A PRESS CONFERENCE INTO AN INFOMERCIAL

HEADLINE: "Trump Infomercial Captivates Networks" [Politico, 3/9/16<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/donald-trump-infomercial-220471>]

Politico: Trump's Press Conference "Veered Into Sales Pitches For His Own Product Lines ... Touting His Wines, Steaks, Golf Courses, And Even His Water." "All three networks stuck with Trump's long press conference even as it veered into sales pitches for his own product lines, despite the fact that Hillary Clinton, who had won the Mississippi primary in a landslide and was neck-and-neck in Michigan, spoke at the same time... What struck many critics like Elleithee was that Trump wasn't even making much news. He was mostly just riffing. He took questions from reporters but also veered into long digressions touting his wines, steaks, golf courses, and even his water." [Politico, 3/9/16<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/donald-trump-infomercial-220471>]

HEADLINE: "Donald Trump Spent Election Night Pitching Trump Products That You Can't Buy Anymore" [Vox, 3/9/16<http://www.vox.com/2016/3/9/11185282/donald-trump-wine-water-vodka-speech>]

TRUMP LOANED HIS CAMPAIGN MONEY, BUT TECHNICALLY HE COULD PAY HIMSELF BACK WITH FUTURE DONATIONS

HEADLINE: "Trump Campaign Could Use New Donations to Pay Donald Trump $36M for Loan" [NBC News, 5/13/16<http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-campaign-may-use-new-donations-pay-donald-trump-36-n573291>]