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Trump-related
business industries - those bearing his own name, including his
private jet and the Manhattan building that served as his
campaign headquarters - received $11 million in payments from
his campaign.
Trump shocked the political world when he defeated Democratic
rival Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 election for the White
House, overcoming a spending deficit and outperforming polls in
several swing states to propel him to victory.
Earlier this week, Trump’s campaign revealed that he sold his
entire stock portfolio in June, a holding that was estimated at
about $40 million.
Opting to liquidate his assets could have been a move to pump
cash into his campaign, which at the time was struggling to
raise funds from private donors. The move to sell his stocks
came weeks after he forgave about $47 million in loans he had
already given his campaign.
In total, Trump raised $339 million and spent $322 million - a
far cry from the $565 million spent by Clinton, according to the
latest Federal Election Commission disclosure reports. Trump
spent $94 million in the final days of the campaign, compared
with the $132 million spent by Clinton.
Trump frequently promised to run a shoe-string campaign and
argued his self-funding model meant he wasn’t obligated to any
special interests.
He blasted polling as a useless art and pollsters as a waste of
money as he overcame 16 Republican foes during the primary
election season in early 2016. Trump rode to victory on more
than $5 billion in “free” television on news programs that
provided wall-to-wall coverage of his every word, according to
data analytics firm mediaQuant.
But when the realities of the general election began to sink in
- and Trump’s poll numbers sank - he shifted and began spending
money on polling and television ads.
In total, Trump spent $107 million on advertising, including
television ads, and another $85 million in digital and online
advertising. His second largest expense was air travel, totaling
$26 million and accounting for more campaign spending than his
payroll.
(Reporting by Ginger Gibson in WASHINGTON and Grant Smith in NEW
YORK; Editing by Paul Tait)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
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