Donald Trump "fully extinguishes" $50 million campaign loan
Donald Trump announced Thursday that he would forgive the $50 million personal loan he gave to his presidential campaign, touting a promise he made earlier this year that he would not be paying himself back via the campaign war chest.
"Mr. Trump has fully extinguished (terminated) this loan per his commitment," a Trump campaign press release stated Thursday. "Therefore, he has personally invested in excess of $50 million dollars in the future of our country."
"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 email continued. "Mr. Trump will continue to put America and our people first."
Trump, who spent millions of his own money on his primary election campaign, said last month that the dollars were a "contribution made in order to 'Make America Great Again.'"
The presumptive GOP nominee has been facing some concerns over his fundraising prowess in recent days, after FEC filings showed the campaign had just $1.3 million cash on hand at the end of May.
But that low number is more an indication of the fact that he largely self-funded his primary campaign and spent little on TV ads, relying instead on earned media. Trump did not have the fundraising infrastructure in place that Clinton or many of his opponents did.
He later defended the campaign finance report -- measly in comparison to the $42.5 million rival Hillary Clinton had in cash at the end of the month -- in an interview with NBC News earlier this week.
"I understand money better than anybody," Trump said Tuesday. "I understand it far better than Hillary, and I'm way up on the economy when it comes to questions on the economy. But we have a party that, I mean, I'm having more difficulty, frankly, with some of the people in the party than I am with the Democrats because they're just, they don't want to come on."
"I spent $55 million of my own money to win the primaries," he added. "You know, that's a lot of money, by any standard. I may do that again in the general election."