In the primary season, Don Trump famously didn’t run the kind of fundraising operation conducted by his rivals. In speeches, Trump talks about “self funding” and “spending” of more than $50 million, but more than $45 million of the cash that Trump put into his campaign was officially in the form of loans. After Trump got over the line for number of delegates needed to secure the nomination, his loans to himself scaled back steeply, leading to the point where Trump's campaign had only a few days worth of operating cash on hand.
Some of the moneymen who regularly fund Republican elections had already expressed a reluctance to invest in Trump, but even for those who wanted to aid his campaign, there was a big obstacle in the way—all those loans. By making his campaign donations as loans, Donald Trump left open the option that any funds brought in could be used to pay himself back. It’s one thing to invest in a campaign thinking that the funds are going to commercials, staff, and voter outreach. But potential contributors were a lot less interested in just shoving money back into Trump’s wallet.
To get funds flowing, Donald Trump announced last week that he would “forgive” those loans, so contributors could pony up without worry about Trump raking in the dollars. He immediately followed this with his first big fundraising effort, which he maintains was wildly successful.
Only Trump didn't seem to follow through on his promises.
A week later, NBC News has learned the FEC has posted no record of Trump converting his loans to donations. The Trump Campaign has also declined requests to share the legal paperwork required to execute the transaction, though they suggest it has been submitted.
Funny thing: The documents presented to the FEC are public.
In his most recent FEC filing, which posted June 20, Trump treated all his spending on the campaign as loans.
An FEC staff member tells NBC News there is no new filing changing Trump's loans. The FEC's candidate tracking page, which posts filings, does not show new paperwork from Trump changing his loans.
Trump has already begun to brag about the “unbelievable” amounts of money his campaign is pulling in. But as usual, the most unbelievable thing about Trump’s campaign is any promise made by Trump.
The Trump Campaign has struggled to pivot to fundraising after the primaries, posting only $1.2 million cash on hand. Trump's loan announcement also comes as political fundraising experts have questioned whether he has taken to exaggerating his online fundraising, with claims that his first foray into email fundraising broke every record ever.