Trump Is Paying Himself With Campaign Cash. Is That Legal?

[applegrove]

Trump Is Paying Himself With Campaign Cash. Is That Legal?

BY EMILY ATKIN at the Huffington Post

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/06/21/3790777/trump-campaign-cash-ethics/

"SNIP.............


But what’s been less explored are the ethics behind this practice. Is it right for Trump to use his campaign’s money on his own businesses? Is it normal? Is it legal?

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“It’s highly unusual to have a campaign paying a candidate’s businesses on anything like this scale,” he told ThinkProgress on Tuesday. “It’s not that unusual to have some office space rented from the candidates’ business, but to have so many different businesses for so much of the campaign’s work, with the money essentially going to the candidate, that’s extremely unusual.”

Richard Painter, the former chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, agreed that Trump’s persistent practice of paying himself was not normal for a presidential candidate. As for whether it’s legal, Painter told ThinkProgress that it might be — but Trump has to walk a fine line when it comes to how much he’s charging himself.

“If I were advising somebody in his situation, who had a campaign that owned a lot of hotels and other facilities, I’d say that you could use those facilities if you had an arms length transaction — if you were renting the facility for market value,” Painter said.

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[The Wielding Truth]

1. Wasn't Palin in a lot of trouble for buying herself clothing? Seems Trump is doing far worse.

[enough]

2. Legal? Does anybody actually care? (nt)