Trump paid dearly to boost fundraising
The campaign increased its spending in July, but not on building a staff or field organization.
Though the campaign touted an $80 million figure for its July fundraising, just $36.7 million of that total went directly to the campaign.
.. The campaign more than doubled its spending from the previous month to $18.5 million in July, far more than in any other period of the campaign. Most of that money went toward expanding the campaign’s online fundraising operation.
.. A full 45 percent, or $8.4 million, went to Giles-Parscale, the San Antonio-based digital marketing firm that has done Trump’s online advertising. (The company had never worked for a campaign before 2016.) The campaign also paid $100,000 to the Prosper Group for fundraising consulting.
.. Legal fees for the campaign’s outside law firm, Jones Day, gobbled up more than $660,000. The Clinton campaign paid its outside counsel about a sixth of that.