Trump Forgives $50 Million Loan To His Own Campaign

Donald Trump’s campaign announced Thursday that the candidate forgave a loan of $50 million of his own money as he ramps up efforts to fill his campaign coffers for the general election.

Trump’s campaign released a statement confirming the loan had been forgiven and framed the action as Trump donating to America’s future.

“Unlike the all talk, no action politicians that have failed the American people for far too long, Mr. Trump is not beholden to the special interests that have corrupted Washington, D.C,” the statement read. “Mr. Trump will continue to put America and our people first.”

Trump’s finance chair, Steve Mnuchin, confirmed the news to CNBC Thursday and added that Trump planned to give even more of his own money to the campaign.

Federal Election Commission filings made public earlier this week showed Trump’s campaign was severely lagging in fundraising compared to that of Democrat Hillary Clinton. Shortly afterward, Trump’s campaign began asking for donations from supporters, and Trump promised he would match up to $2 million.

“After self-funding his primary election, Mr. Trump and the campaign have assembled an exceptional fundraising operation, which in recent days has been overwhelmed with contributions for the Republican Party,” the Trump campaign statement read.

Still, Mnuchin told CNBC that Trump does not need as much money as Clinton’s campaign does because he has something better: social media engagement.

“[Trump] has a huge online presence with over 20 million followers. This is going to be a nontraditional campaign,” Mnuchin said. “This is going to be a campaign driven by social media and driven by free TV.”