Former President Donald Trump has spent $375,000 he raised from followers on rent payments to his Manhattan skyscraper. But the entity that raised the money has no presence in the building and there’s no clear justification for spending that much cash, according to HuffPost.
“It’s a huge scam,” said one former Trump aide to the outlet. “I can’t believe his base lets him get away with it.”
The HuffPost adds:
The ex-aide’s assertion was confirmed by a Trump Tower employee who screens traffic to offices above the floors that are open to visitors. When asked for permission to visit Trump’s political office recently, the employee told HuffPost that Save America and its related entities did not have offices there.
“It’s all being run out of Florida,” he said, declining to give his name.
Trump’s staff at his political committees did not respond to HuffPost queries.
More from the HuffPost:
The $375,417 Trump spent for the unused office space is more than the $350,500 that his Save America committee donated last year to Republican candidates running for office, which is ostensibly Trump’s purpose for raising money for his committees.
Trump used similar tactics when he originally created the Save America “leadership” PAC following his election loss in November 2020, claiming in repeated emails and text messages to tens of millions of his supporters that the money would be used to help Republicans win key U.S. Senate runoffs in Georgia to maintain control of that chamber. But even though he raised $76 million in those weeks before the Jan. 5, 2021, runoff, Trump spent none of it helping the GOP candidates. Rather, he almost certainly caused both Republicans to lose by disparaging the integrity of Georgia’s elections because the state had voted for Democrat Joe Biden for president, thereby depressing Republican turnout.