Trump Tower, the President’s Manhattan property, has been hemorrhaging tenants and money since its namesake took office — so now the President is cutting checks from his campaign coffers to bridge the gap.
According to HuffPost, President Donald Trump has been spending $37,500 a month on office space there, though only a handful of people idle around the massive area.
Erin Chlopak, a former FEC attorney, told HuffPost that the transactions would only be illegal if it could be proven that the Trump Tower space was serving no actual purpose for the campaign.
The Republican National Committee shares a much larger office with the campaign in Arlington.
What could go wrong?
And as for these poor “tenants” … I feel sorry for them. Imagine their surprise upon waking up one recent morning only to find they’ve been living in a building with Trump’s name emblazoned all over it. Yikes!
“the transactions would only be illegal if it could be proven that the Trump Tower space was serving no actual purpose for the campaign.”
Gee, that law’s basically unapplicable. Serving Trump is serving the campaign. Shoulda passed stricter laws. Is that part of HR1?
Sadly, some of those people own condos in the building - I suspect the value of their units isn’t what it used to be - and their worth continues to drop every day trump’s name remains on the building.
I have a colleague whose ex-wife has a condo there (he lived there too until they split 6 years ago). They bought it precisely because it had Trump on the facade and she was a big-time Trump supporter (she works in NYC real estate and I am sure got a sweetheart deal). I recall a few times with her when she would nastily disparage Obama for not running the country like a corporation. So no, I am not sorry for her. Not at all. She has glorious views of Central Park from her perch.
Sounds like a poorly drawn piece of legislation. By that logic, a campaign could pay exorbitant rent for millions of square feet of office space owned by the candidate, as long as there was one person sitting there who answered the telephone with “Joe Blow for President. How may I help you?”
Of course, we’re now realizing that our entire system has been caught off guard by Trumpism. We have a host of laws and regulations that are simply toothless in the face of a lawless administration, particularly one that has installed its own pet Attorney General. How can an administration be prevented from spending non-appropriated funds, if the A.G. won’t prosecute those who do it? How can Congressional subpoenas be enforced if the Judiciary says, “this is a political fight, so we won’t wade into it?”
Sounds like we need to call Gort.