Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) on Tuesday confirmed that he has been unable to pay his presidential campaign staffers, but seemed confident that his campaign will be able to compensate those staffers in the future.
“Have I been able to for the last week? No,” he said on CNN’s “New Day” when asked about reports that he has been unable to pay his campaign. “We’ve got a lot of young people that are volunteering for us and I greatly appreciate their commitment to the cause. And as the dollars come in, we’ll appropriately take care of those that are working with us on a paid status.”
The former governor told reporters Monday that, despite his campaign’s financial woes, he expects to compete in the Republican primary until the end.
“I’m figuring I can stay as long as anybody can stay,” he said at a campaign event in Iowa, according to Buzzfeed News. “I’m pretty sure that most Americans have had some ups and downs in their business before, have had some challenges before. Certainly I have in all of my campaigns, and this one’s no different. I’ve got some great people working for me, some folks that are volunteering for us.”
Perry described his struggling operation as “a real grassroots campaign.”
Katon Dawson, the Perry campaign’s South Carolina state chairman, told CNN last week that the campaign had ceased paying operatives in the state. And the campaign reportedly had to stop paying all staffers across the country.
