Bombshell Report Exposes How Trump Is Lining His Pockets With Campaign

Amid a year of legal woes that added up to roughly half a billion dollars, Donald Trump has been leeching cash from an eyebrow-raising source: his campaign.

According to a CNN analysis of federal campaign finance data, Trump and associated political groups have funneled more than $28 million in campaign donations into his businesses since he first ran for office in 2015.

Other Republicans are reportedly also using their campaign budgets on Trump’s businesses in order to earn favor with the conservative populist. Republican candidates and conservative investors, including Bernie Moreno, former Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker, and Arizona Senate hopeful Kari Lake, have spent more on Trump’s businesses this year than at any point since 2016, reported CNN. Those expenses added up by way of “Mar-a-Lago fundraisers, stays at Trump’s hotels, and flights on the former president’s private jet,” the outlet reported.

Federal campaigns and PACs spent nearly $3.2 million on Trump properties in the first half of 2024 alone, though 80 percent of that came from Trump’s own campaign funds as well as political groups aligned with the Republican presidential nominee, reported CNN.

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

But campaign finance experts see the trend as yet another signal that the Republican Party has completely bent the knee to the former reality TV star.

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

Donald Trump once referred to cryptocurrencies as a scam, but as of this week, he appears to be all in on the digital coin.

On Thursday, the Republican nominee and his family announced the creation of “The Trump DeFi Project”—short for decentralized finance—to platform cryptocurrencies.

“For too long, the average American has been squeezed by the big banks and financial elites,” Trump wrote online in a post echoed by his son, Don Jr. “It’s time we take a stand—together.”

Few details are known about the Trump DeFi project, including its official launch date or its purpose, but the “official” Telegram channel of the project, “The DeFiant Ones,” promises updates in the coming days.

Trump has increasingly tried to frame himself as a pro-crypto candidate in this election cycle. At a Bitcoin Conference in Nashville in July, Trump promised to build out a “strategic national bitcoin reserve” if elected, according to CoinDesk. But the former president’s recent investments would show that his change of heart on the digital assets isn’t all an act. Financial disclosures released earlier this month show that Trump has $7.15 million coming from a source labeled NFT INT., likely referring to his NFT series. He’s also kept a stockpile of cash in the new-wave currencies, with the disclosure listing roughly $5 million in crypto.

Trump listed his social media platform, Truth Social, at more than $50 million. Trump owns nearly 65 percent of Truth Social’s parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group, which is quickly tanking in value.

Donald Trump called in to Fox News to give his thoughts on Kamala Harris’s speech at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night, and he wasn’t taking it well.

Host Martha MacCallum asked Trump what he would do to regain the momentum in the race, with the Harris campaign flying high in the polls, particularly thanks to the convention.

Trump denied that Harris was doing well, saying, “No, she’s not having success, I’m having success.”

“I’m doing great with the Hispanic voters, I’m doing great with Black men, I’m doing great with women, because women want safety, they want safety, and they don’t have safety when they have somebody allowing 20 million people into our country, many of them very dangerous people,” Trump ranted.

“No, it’s only in your eyes that they have that, Martha,” Trump continued, referring to Harris’s momentum. “We’re doing very well in the polls, we’re leading in most of the polls, and in the swing states, we’re leading in almost every one of them.”

At one point, while making them claim that Harris would dramatically increase taxes, Trump was so riled up that he pressed the buttons on his phone live on the air. He was probably still steamed after having done a live play-by-play of Harris’s speech on Truth Social. In the end, Fox News actually had to cut off his rambling phone call.

It’s pretty clear that Harris’s candidacy has rattled Trump, who still hasn’t recovered from learning he wouldn’t be facing Joe Biden in November. He has struggled to come up with any effective attack against her, even drawing a blank on his trademark insults. Trump can’t bring himself to admit that he has lost a lot of ground in the latest polls, with one showing that older voters think he’s in “very poor” health. Judging by his interview Thursday night, those voters might be right.

While Kamala Harris was making her keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, Donald Trump was melting down on Truth Social.

The former president and convicted felon promised to give a “Play by Play” of her speech, and it ended up being a long string of whining.

“Too many ‘Thank yous,’ too rapidly said, what’s going on with her?” Trump began. It didn’t get any better from there.

“She’s talking about how great San Francisco was before she destroyed it, probably not a good idea!” Trump posted, accompanied by a video disparaging Harris’s record as a prosecutor in the city. And ever self-conscious, he posted “IS SHE TALKING ABOUT ME?” when Harris started criticizing him.

Occasionally, some of his posts veered into all-caps, probably when he was particularly upset, like when the Project 2025 manifesto was mentioned:  “LYING AGAIN ABOUT PROJECT 2025, WHICH SHE KNOWS, AND SO DO ALL DEMOCRATS, THAT I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH!” (She wasn’t lying.)

Trump closed with the emphatic message: “There will be no future under Comrade Kamala Harris, because she will take us into a Nuclear World War III! She will never be respected by the Tyrants of the World!”

Harris’s entry into the presidential race has put Trump off of his game, as he’s still unable to come up with a good insult of the vice president. He and his running mate J.D. Vance have also struggled to respond to the simple criticism that they’re weird. It must really get under Trump’s skin that the Democratic National Convention has had better ratings than the RNC, and by all accounts, Harris’s keynote address was better received than his convention speech. In the end, he’s just coming across as desperately deranged.

Former Representative Adam Kinzinger ripped into Donald Trump at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night.

The Republican and conservative called out the former president and convicted felon in his speech, calling Trump a “weak man, pretending to be strong.”

“Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party. His fundamental weakness has coursed through my party like an illness,” Kinzinger said.

Kinzinger explained why he, as a Republican, is siding against Trump and his political party.

“Some have questioned some have questioned why I’ve taken the stand I have. The answer is really simple: Ladies and gentlemen, we must put country first, and tonight as a Republican speaking before you, I’m putting our country first,” Kinzinger said. “Because the fact is I do belong here. I know Kamala Harris shares my allegiance to the rule of law, the Constitution, and democracy.”

Kinzinger endorsed President Biden in late June, saying that he knew Biden “will always protect the very thing that makes America the best country in the world: our democracy.” He criticized Trump going back to 2019, when he called out Trump  for seeming to endorse a civil war by retweeting an extremist pastor. The then-congressman also criticized QAnon and other right-wing conspiracy theories, and rejected right-wing claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

After the Capitol insurrection in 2021, Kinzinger called for Trump to be removed from office, and not only endorsed the January 6 committee but served on it as one of two Republicans. In 2022, faced with opposition from Trump supporters in the GOP, he opted against running for reelection.

Members of the wrongly convicted “Central Park Five” spoke during primetime of the final night of the Democratic National Convention. And they had some choice words for Donald Trump.

“Our youth was stolen from us. Every day, as we walked into [the] courtroom people screamed at us, threatened us, because of Donald Trump,” said Korey Wise, one of the men falsely charged as a teenager for the beating and rape of a white woman.

Trump “spent $85,000 on a full page ad in the New York Times calling for our execution,” Wise continued.

The Central Park 5 were a group of Black and brown teenagers, aged 14 to 16, who in 1990 were falsely convicted of raping and assaulting a young white woman jogging in Central Park. The high-profile case gained national attention—and Trump at the time helped fan the flames. 

He did in fact take out $85,000 worth of full-page ads in The New York Times, The Daily News, The New York Post, and Newsday. The ads accused the kids of being guilty, with no evidence, and in all caps, they urged: “BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY. BRING BACK OUR POLICE!”

Trump, now a convicted felon, continues to hold that the men are guilty, even though another man confessed to the crime after DNA evidence proved otherwise. Trump has also refused to apologize.

Wise, Yousef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, and Antron McCray were ultimately convicted and spent between 7 to 13 years in prison. Four of them, with the exception of McCray, attended the DNC Thursday.

Salaam, now a member of the New York City Council, echoed Wise’s warnings about Trump. “Forty-five wanted us un-alive, he wanted us dead.”

“That guy says he still stands by the original guilty verdict. He dismisses the scientific evidence rather than admit he was wrong. He has never changed and he never will.”

After collectively serving decades in prison, the five were awarded $41 million from the city.

Speaking on Thursday at the DNC, the men were met with a standing ovation from the crowd.

Senator Elizabeth Warren had a zinger for J.D. Vance during her Thursday night speech at the Democratic National Convention.

“Trust Donald Trump and J.D. Vance to look out for your family?” she asked. “I wouldn’t trust them to move my couch.”

In her speech, Warren painted a picture of Harris as the candidate looking out for working class people while Republicans look out for themselves. “Donald Trump, the felon, has no plans to lower costs for families.”

“When did he ever fill up a gas tank or worry about a grocery bill? The only bills he worries about are from his criminal defense lawyers,” the Massachusetts politician joked.

Warren also highlighted Harris’s background in law protecting everyday people. She “fought the giant banks, and she delivered billions of dollars of help for families,” said Warren. “And that is the difference between a criminal and a prosecutor.”

Donald Trump has taken January 6 denialism to a new level: He’s going to be hosting an awards ceremony dedicated to the Capitol riot.

On September 5, a “J6 Awards Gala” will be held at Trump’s golf club in Bedminister, New Jersey. The event will include a raffle to win a plaque recognizing the “Justice For All” song performed by Trump and the “J6 Prison Choir,” which briefly reached the Billboard Music Chart. The choir is made up of defendants serving prison sentences for their actions in the Capitol in 2021.

Trump is scheduled as a guest speaker, as is his former lawyer and indicted co-defendant Rudy Giuliani. A separate flier for the event notes that tickets range from $2,500 for an individual to $50,000 for a table for 12.

“We gather to pay tribute not only to these individuals but to all J6 defendants who have shown incredible courage and sacrifice,” the event description states.

In a promotional video for the event, Trump calls the rioters “peaceful” and “hostages,” and adds that “there have never been people treated more horrifically than J6 hostages.”

It’s pretty clear that Trump is trying to whitewash an event where he tried to overturn the 2020 election, and maybe make some money in the process. The rioters committed federal crimes and assaulted law enforcement, and yet this event honors them. It’s a warning that without any accountability, Trump will celebrate his crimes, and perhaps be emboldened to repeat them.

Donald Trump made an appearance in Cochise County, Arizona, near the southern U.S. border Thursday, touting a list of violent crimes allegedly committed by undocumented immigrants in an effort to boost his own political campaign.

During Trump’s speech, he read out a list of several gruesome crimes committed against young girls and women across the country, which Trump claimed had been carried out by undocumented immigrants—outright blaming his opponent Kamala Harris for allowing the immigrants into the country. Devoid of any emotion from Trump, the list was presented solely to create shock and outrage.

During his address, Trump invited Patty Morin to speak. Morin is the mother of Rachel Morin, who was sexually assaulted and murdered in Maryland in 2023, allegedly by a migrant from El Salvador. Morin spoke emotionally about the devastating loss of her daughter, which compelled her to speak on behalf of Trump.

“I really want our words to be heard, and I really want you to take to heart what I’m saying. We’re not here for a political stand—although we are,” Morin said. “We’re here because we’re losing our moms, our daughters, our children to criminals. That shouldn’t happen.”

Trump and other MAGA figures have repeatedly highlighted Morin’s story as a tool to criticize the Biden administration’s efforts to expand legal protections for undocumented immigrants. Rachel’s brother was invited to speak at the Republican National Convention last month.

The Republican nominee also invited family members of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old from Houston, Texas, who was allegedly killed by an undocumented immigrant.

In highlighting these stories and their disturbing details, Trump hopes to feed into the anti-immigrant narrative his campaign has created, convincing Americans to support whichever candidate would close the southern border. But his fear-mongering regularly dives into overt racism and baseless claims, such as on Sunday, when Trump shared a post on his Truth Social account showing video footage of a line of people of color walking on a dirt road. The video was captioned, “If you’re a woman you can either vote for Trump or wait until one of these monsters goes after you or your daughter.”

Trump was also accompanied Thursday by Sheriff Mark Dannels, who has been linked to the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, a right-wing group of law enforcement officers that believe the county—not the state or federal governments—-should control all land within its borders, giving sheriffs license to ignore federal law and enforce their own vision of justice.

The Supreme Court handed a win to Republicans Thursday by restoring a voting law in Arizona requiring proof of citizenship with state voter registration forms.

The restoration came in a 5–4 decision, with liberals Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting along with conservative Amy Coney Barrett. But the rest of the court’s conservative justices handed Republicans a win.

Still, the court at least denied another GOP request, which was to reinstate an Arizona law that would throw out ballots if the voters didn’t provide proof of citizenship, even if they registered via a federal form, which doesn’t require proof.

The legal challenges were brought to the court by the Republican National Committee, which made an emergency request. The Justice Department sued over the second provision, arguing that it conflicted with federal law. The Democratic National Committee argued that both provisions are unconstitutional, and also violate a 2018 consent decree.

Republicans seem to be going all in on the false idea that massive numbers of noncitizens are voting illegally thanks to lax requirements for identification while voting or registering to vote, and keep repeating the claim without any proof. Several Republicans have been peddling the claim for years, and many mentioned it in their speeches at the Republican National Convention last month. Not only is it included in the party platform, but House Speaker Mike Johnson has used poorly sourced information to propose a bill to supposedly fight it.

By making these requirements more stringent, they think Democrats won’t be able to cheat. Of course, there’s no such cheating going on, but it will make voting more difficult for low-income citizens.

This new ruling not only gives the false claim more legitimacy, but it appears to be blatant intervention by the Supreme Court to try and help Republicans get favorable results in Arizona, a state that Democrats flipped in 2020. Republicans are looking for every advantage they can get in 2024, but without the actual work of convincing voters.