Donald Trump's businesses 'received millions from his campaign in run-up to election'

Businesses connected to US President Donald Trump are thought to have received millions of dollars during the run-up to the election.

After launching his presidential bid in 2015, Mr Trump’s campaign could have spent as much as $12.8 million (£10.2 million) paying businesses owned, or part-owned by him, an analysis of US Federal Election Commission (FEC) data shows.

The most recent bill Mr Trump’s campaign paid was for $2 million (£1.59 million) which went to Trump Tower Commercial, LLC, according to US website Politico, which carried out the research.

Mr Trump used the New York skyscraper as his headquarters during his presidential bid. His campaign paid rent, utilities bills and contributed payments to the Trump Tower payroll, which is thought to have been used to pay the tower’s staff who worked on his campaign.

Other payments his campaign has made to Trump companies include to his Palm Beach club Mar-A-Lago, which he describes as his “winter White House”, and to which he paid $435,000 (£360,000) for rental and catering; while his golf courses received a total of $398,000 (£317,000) for similar services.

On top of that was a payment of $78,000 (£62,000) to Trump Restaurants for catering and food, and $32,000 (£25,000) for staying at Eric Trump’s vineyard.

The largest payments his campaign has made have been to TAG Air, which operates the Trump-branded plane that the billionaire used to fly around the US during his presidential bid.

And the payments are expected to continue, as Mr Trump has said he is to keep his campaign office running throughout his presidency.

Mr Trump has not yet filed a formal application to run again in 2020, but has sent a letter to the FEC noting that he meets the legal requirements to do so.

If that was not a clear enough sign of intent, in the days before his inauguration Mr Trump halted an interview with the Washington Post to get a lawyer to trademark a slogan he had come up with for a 2020 re-election bid: “Keep America Great”.

The account of the incident in the newspaper is as follows:

“Get me my lawyer!” the President-elect shouted.

Two minutes later, one arrived.

“Will you trademark and register, if you would, if you like it — I think I like it, right? Do this: ‘Keep America Great,’ with an exclamation point. With and without an exclamation. ‘Keep America Great,’ ” Trump said.

“Got it,” the lawyer replied.

Mr Trump’s three committees which make up his campaign, which include the campaign organisation itself, along with two fundraising vehicles, have had a strong start to the year, separate Politico research shows.

Over December 2016 they brought in $11 million (£8.75 million) , dispersed $32 million (£25.5 million), but still ended the year with a total of $16 million (£12.7 million) in their coffers.

US law states that campaigns are required to pay fair market rates for all goods and services, even if the businesses’ owner is at the head of the campaign.

As Politico notes, it is difficult to ascertain the extent to which Mr Trump’s businesses may have benefitted during the presidential race. This is due to the scale, opacity and methods used by the Trump machine, but also because the millions of dollars the campaign paid out are rendered miniscule in comparison to the $66 million (£52.5 million) Mr Trump personally pumped into his White House bid.

Such campaign tactics are exceptional. In the past, wealthy presidential candidates have usually sought to play-down their personal wealth. But Mr Trump’s largesse was openly touted, with many of his press conferences doubling as marketing opportunities for businesses including his restaurants and golf courses.