Trump’s still short on promise to invest $100M into campaign

WASHINGTON – Donald Trump has repeatedly said he will spend $100 million or more of his own money on his presidential bid. Yet even with a fresh donation, he’d be $34 million short of that promise.

The Republican nominee gave $10 million on Friday, his campaign spokeswoman Jessica Ditto said. That means his personal investment over the course of the primary and general elections would have grown to about $66 million.

The infusion comes as Democrat Hillary Clinton hold a striking cash advantage over Trump, new Federal Election Commission reports show. As of last week, Clinton and her Democratic partners had $153 million in the bank, more than double the resources as on the Trump side.

Trump, a New York businessman who says he is worth billions of dollars, invested heavily throughout his GOP primary race. Then, during the general election, he slowed his personal contributions to about $2 million per month.

The Friday gift — not yet reflected in public documents — would represent the most he has put into his bid since the month of March, when he loaned his campaign $11.5 million. Trump later zeroed out all of his loans, converting them into contributions that cannot be repaid.

His personal investment shrinks when accounting for about $9 million in campaign cash that has returned to his family and businesses.

That money has largely gone to the holding company of his private jet, but the campaign also paid for rent at Trump Tower, catering at his restaurants and even the Trump Ice bottled water that has popped up at his events.

And Trump’s Friday aid follows weeks where Clinton actually chipped in more than he did to cover political expenses. In the first 19 days of the month, Clinton herself offset $87,000 worth of campaign expenses while Trump covered about $33,000 of his.

Trump gave about $31,000 through the first 19 days of October, the period covered in the filing released Thursday, all of which went to cover rent and payroll. Trump also gave an additional $2,600 on Oct. 20, other filings show.

Trump says during rallies and media interviews that he will spend $100 million of his own money, and maybe “much more.”

“He will continue to make investments into his campaign, including in these last 11 days,” Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said Friday morning on Fox News. “He has said publicly many times he is in for $100 million, and he is happy to invest in his campaign.”

___

Keep track of how much Clinton and Trump are spending on television advertising, and where they’re spending it, via AP’s interactive ad tracker. http://elections.ap.org/content/ad-spending

___

Follow Julie Bykowicz and Chad Day on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bykowicz and https://twitter.com/ChadSDay