Trump pledges to spend $100 million on his campaign — he has $44 million to go

Jacob Pramuk
Carlo Allegri | Reuters

Donald Trump pledged again Wednesday to keep putting his own money, $100 million or more, into his campaign by Election Day.

He had a lot of spending to do in October to get to that level.

In an interview with CNN, the Republican presidential nominee said "I will have over $100 million in the campaign and I'm prepared to go much higher than that." But he would have to spend at a much higher rate in the election's final weeks than he previously did to reach that.

The billionaire developer personally gave about $56 million to his campaign as of the end of September, according to Federal Election Commission data. That includes $47.5 million in loans which Trump forgave after largely funding his GOP primary effort by lending his own money.

But Trump would have to pick up his contribution pace significantly from the start of October through Election Day to reach or exceed $100 million in personal spending. For example, he gave about $2 million to his campaign in September.

It remains to be seen what Trump has given so far in October. Campaign committee data for Oct. 1 to 19 is due Thursday.

Some of the Trump campaign's spending has gone to Trump businesses. As of September, Trump's campaign had spent more than $8 million at his businesses, about 7 percent of its total spending, according to Politico.

The campaign is legally required to pay the businesses for using facilities.



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