Only about $68.7 million of the almost $212 million that Trump collected in the past three months through joint ventures with the Republican National Committee and state parties actually reached his campaign, according to the latest filings with the Federal Election Commission. Almost as much — $63.5 million — was eaten up by operating expenses such as paying for fundraising and compliance consultants, catering and event spaces, list rentals, direct mail and digital ads.
Four percent of the haul, almost $9.3 million, can’t be used on the campaign at all, because it’s earmarked for special RNC accounts for convention, legal and building expenses, the campaign finance reports show. The rest was split with the RNC and state parties.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign, by contrast, received $85.2 million over the three months through her joint fundraising arrangements. That’s also less than a third of the total $295 million haul. But Clinton works in lockstep with the Democratic Party and ran a leaner machine, spending 22 cents on overhead for every dollar raised, to Trump’s 30.
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