Late last year, former President Donald Trump announced his endorsement of car dealership owner Bernie Moreno for Ohio’s Senate seat – elevating an untested candidate who’d never held public office over several other more prominent Republicans.

Two days later, Moreno’s campaign spent about $17,000 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and then followed up by spending an additional $79,000 the next month – making him one of the Florida club’s top political spenders.

He wasn’t alone. With glitzy Mar-a-Lago fundraisers, stays at Trump’s hotels, and flights on the former president’s private jet, Republican candidates and political groups are on track to spend more on Trump’s businesses this year than any year since 2016, according to a CNN analysis of federal campaign finance data.

Trump himself has been the biggest spender, both this year and over the last decade. Between his three presidential campaigns, Trump and associated political groups have funneled more than $28 million in campaign donations to his businesses – helping convert the enthusiasm of his political supporters into personal profit.

Other Republicans have followed suit, spending millions at Trump’s properties in an apparent attempt to curry favor with the former president and signal their allegiance to him to GOP voters.

Some of the candidates who’ve spent the most money on Trump businesses in recent years have been new politicians who won the former president’s endorsement despite a lack of past electoral experience or success, including Moreno, former Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker and Arizona Senate hopeful Kari Lake.

In the first half of 2024, federal campaigns and PACs have spent nearly $3.2 million on Trump businesses, more than 80% of which came from Trump’s own campaign and associated groups. The biggest chunk – about $1.9 million – was spent by Trump’s campaign and fundraising committees on a Trump-owned company that operates his jet.

In total, campaigns and committees have spent more than $1 million at Mar-a-Lago so far this year, and about $200,000 at other Trump hotels and resorts.

Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, said that “committees are paying the fair market rate for all venues and services” provided by Trump businesses.

The dynamic of candidates shelling out thousands on Trump’s businesses while vying for his endorsement – which can make or break Republican campaigns – is an example of how politics has boosted his businesses’ bottom line. And the former president’s influence helps explain why some candidates are traveling hundreds or thousands of miles to show up at a Trump hotel or resort, campaign finance experts said.

“He’s clearly now in complete control of the Republican Party,” said Daniel Weiner, director of the Brennan Center’s Elections and Government Program. “Patronizing his businesses has become one of the accepted ways that candidates and public officials express their loyalty to the party’s leader.”

Endorsees spending big

CNN analyzed Federal Election Commission data on more than 12 million campaign expenditures since 2011, and identified those that went to a variety of Trump-associated businesses, including Mar-a-Lago, his hotels and resorts, and the company tied to his jet.

About 150 congressional candidates have reported spending campaign funds at Trump businesses, including some Democrats in the years before his first presidential bid. New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez’s campaign spent several thousand dollars at the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia in 2012, and the campaign of Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a close ally of President Joe Biden, spent about $700 at the Trump International Resort in Florida in 2014.

But since Trump famously descended his golden escalator in 2015, every congressional candidate whose campaign has reported spending money at his businesses has been a Republican, the FEC data shows.

Most of them have received an endorsement from Trump at some point in their political careers. And some of the biggest spenders are politicians who have never held elected office but received key early endorsements from the former president that helped their campaigns win or avoid competitive primaries.

Moreno, the Ohio Senate candidate, is a clear example. A businessman who owns a host of car dealerships in the Cleveland area, Moreno originally ran for Senate in 2022, before dropping out after a conversation with Trump and eventually supporting now-vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance.

In April 2023, as Moreno prepared to run for the Senate again, he reported two payments at Mar-a-Lago totaling about $13,000 for “event catering.” The same day one of those payments was made, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had heard Moreno, who he called a “highly respected businessman,” was “thinking of running for the Senate,” and that he “would not be easy to be beat.” Moreno posted a screenshot of the missive on Twitter with a “Thank you sir!” and announced his campaign days later.

Trump endorsed Moreno on December 19. On December 21, Moreno reported spending nearly $17,000 more at Mar-a-Lago. He spent another $80,000 there in January, when his campaign held a fundraiser at the resort that raised about $350,000 in donations. At the event, Kimberly Guilfoyle, the fiancée of Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., declared that “God has chosen” Moreno, and called him “an unbelievable patriot who has achieved so much,” social media video shows.

Sorry, have to go vomit. Continues at link:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/23/politics/trump-businesses-campaign-spending-invs/index.html