Subject: for comms approval --
From: "Freundlich, Christina" <[email-masked]>
To: "Paustenbach, Mark" <[email-masked]>, "Walker, Eric" <[email-masked]>, "Walsh, Tom" <[email-masked]>, "Miranda, Luis" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 May 2016 10:53:37 -0700

SL: Trump's Plan to Profit Off of Voters

For years, Trump has repeatedly bragged about making money off of toiling with the idea of running for president. And while that idea can't actually be proven because Trump refuses to release his tax returns - it's clear that he is only running for president to make money off of our democratic system.

<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-business-booms-as-he-runs-for-president-financial-disclosures-show/2016/05/18/60adedb6-1d11-11e6-b6e0-c53b7ef63b45_story.html?postshare=6721463615540458&tid=ss_tw>
In his book<http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-10-27/donald-trump-doing-a-ok-in-crippled-america-> Crippled America, Donald Trump said his income rose since he entered the presidential race, and that his candidacy benefits his business "because of the excitement factor," which he said<http://nypost.com/2016/01/24/trump-still-chooses-the-color-of-the-carpets-in-his-buildings/> was "even more of an asset internationally." He bragged that he actually is making a profit by running for president, saying [link] "If I net out, I'm at like a million bucks."

Maybe profiting off of democracy was all a part of the Trump business plan. Back in 2000, Trump said<http://partners.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/010900wh-ref-trump.html> "I'm the only candidate who makes money when he runs," and today, he repeatedly touts his properties and books at his campaign events rather than his plans to grow and expand the middle class.

Trump's press conference back in March strangely<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/donald-trump-infomercial-220471> "veered into sales pitches for his own product lines.....touting his wines, steaks, golf course and even his water," - despite the fact that you can't even buy some of those products anymore<http://www.vox.com/2016/3/9/11185282/donald-trump-wine-water-vodka-speech>.

"So while serious questions continue to be raised about why Donald Trump continues to refuse to release his tax returns, the only thing that Trump really cares about is his personal profit and what he will get out of his run for president - not the American people. Donald Trump does not have the temperament or judgement to be president because Donald Trump only cares about himself." - DNC Press Secretary Mark Paustenbach