"... campaign spending cannot 'result in the conversion of campaign funds to the personal use of the candidate or any other person.'" Naughty, naughty!

...................................................................................................................................................................
Trump Used Campaign Donations to Buy Copies of His Own Book
By Brian Freeman, August 24, 2016

In a move that campaign finance experts say may be illegal, Republican nominee Donald Trump used campaign funds to purchase thousands of copies of his own book at retail cost that funneled the donor money back to himself, The Daily Beast reports.

A Federal Election Commission filing showed that in May the Trump campaign paid Barnes & Noble more than $55,000 to buy thousands of copies of his book, which a spokesman in the Trump campaign said was for gifts to delegates at the Republican National Convention, which they received in bags along with other presents, such as Make America Great Again! paraphernalia.

The FEC says campaign law dictates that campaign spending cannot "result in the conversion of campaign funds to the personal use of the candidate or any other person."

Campaign Legal Center representative Paul Ryan explained to the Daily Beast that "It's fine for a candidate's book to be purchased by his committee, but it's impermissible to receive royalties from the publisher. That amounts to an illegal conversion of campaign funds to personal use. There's a well-established precedent from the FEC that funds from the campaign account can't end up in your own pocket.”

Ryan added that it might be a permissible arrangement for the candidate to instead donate the royalties to charity.

Neither the Trump campaign nor the publisher would comment if royalties were indeed paid.

But the Daily Beast has already revealed that FEC documents show that Trump spent from the beginning of his candidacy in June 2015 through the end of that year more than $2.2 million at Trump-owned businesses, mainly traveling by private jet utilizing Tag Air Inc., of which Trump is CEO. The overall number has since then reportedly gone up to more than $6 million.

He has already found way to patronize his own businesses and write it off as a political expense, a technique that is not prohibited by law, and something no other presidential candidate in history has been able to do since none have had such vast business holdings.
...................................................................................................................................................................