Donald Trump's Campaign Contributions Far Short of $100 Million Promise
Trump promised to give $100 million to his campaign. He hasn't yet.
— -- New federal finance records released Thursday night paint a bleak picture for Donald Trump's presidential bid. His campaign's bank account is quickly dwindling and, despite a pledge to spend $100 million from his own pocket, he is not showing any signs of bailing it out.
His team currently has only $16.0 million in the bank –- almost four times less than Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign -- with just three weeks to Election Day.
In the first three weeks of October, Trump gave his campaign only $30,682, bringing his total self-funding to $56.1 million. The minuscule donation came in the form of six in-kind contributions for rent and payroll.
The GOP nominee would need to give or loan himself about $44 million during the last two weeks of the election to fulfill his previous promise.
"I mean, look, I'm gonna be in for over $100 million," Trump told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday.
"I'm spending a lot of money," he said. "I will be over $100 million and it could be much more than that."
This means Trump also hasn’t fulfilled any promises to match, double and triple campaign contributions made on Oct. 1, as promised in a fundraising e-mail his campaign sent that day.
Records show donors gave $165,829 on Oct.1. But Trump hasn’t come close to matching that number, let alone doubling or tripling it, through the campaign filing period on Oct. 19.
In an Instagram post this morning, Fox News’ Bret Brier said that Trump claims he plans to write a $10 million check to his campaign today. But, he added, $100 million may not be necessary after all.
From now until Election Day, candidates need to report any contributions over $1,000 to federal election officials within 48 hours. This means that if Trump gives or loans himself any money from this point, he’ll need to make it public within two days. This rule will remain in effect until November 6 at 12:01 a.m.
The Trump campaign spent a broad $49.2 million over the first three weeks of October, while raising only $28.9 million –- a burn rate of 170 percent.