Donald J. Trump regularly boasts that he is self-funding his presidential bid, but new campaign finance filings show that he is also shifting plenty of money back to himself in the process.
According to documents submitted to the Federal Election Commission, Mr. Trump, whose campaign has just $1.3 million cash on hand, paid at least $1.1 million to his businesses and family members in May for expenses associated with events and travel costs.
The presumptive Republican nominee is required by law to account for his spending this way to prevent his companies from making illegal corporate donations to his campaign. In 2015, about $2.7 million was paid to at least seven companies Mr. Trump owns or to people who work for his real estate and branding empire, repaying them for services provided to his campaign.
In May, the biggest ticket item was Mr. Trump’s use of the Mar-a-Lago Club, his Florida resort, which was paid $423,000. The campaign paid $350,000 to TAG Air for his private airplanes, $125,000 to Trump Restaurants, and more than $170,000 to Trump Tower, the Manhattan skyscraper that houses the campaign’s headquarters.
Mr. Trump’s family also profited from the campaign last month, with his son Eric’s Virginia wine business taking in about $1,300.
And Mr. Trump, who has said he will not take a salary if he is elected president, paid himself $3,085 in May.
Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee and Mr. Trump’s main rival this fall, took to Twitter on Tuesday to jab him over the expenditures. “What is Trump spending his meager campaign resources on?” she asked. “Why, himself, of course.”
