特朗普 第一個在競選中賺錢的總統候選人

Donald J. Trump regularly boasts that he is self-funding his presidential bid, but new campaign finance filings show that he is also shifting plenty of money back to himself in the process.

唐納德·J·特朗普(Donald J. Trump)經常標榜自己開展總統競選活動的資金是自籌的，但新的競選財務報備文件顯示，他還在這個過程中把大量資金返還給了自己。

According to documents submitted to the Federal Election Commission, Mr. Trump, whose campaign has just $1.3 million cash on hand, paid at least $1.1 million to his businesses and family members in May for expenses associated with events and travel costs. The total represents nearly a fifth of the $6 million that his campaign spent in the month.

提交給聯邦選舉委員會（Federal Election Commission，簡稱FEC）的文件顯示，目前只有130萬美元現金的特朗普競選團隊，今年5月向他的企業和家庭成員支付了至少110萬美元，具體涉及參加活動的費用和差旅費。他的競選團隊在5月總支出600萬美元，這筆錢在其中佔了差不多五分之一。

The spending raised eyebrows among campaign finance experts and some of Mr. Trump’s critics who have questioned whether the presumptive Republican nominee, who points to his business acumen as a case for his candidacy, is trying to do what he has suggested he would in 2000 when he mulled making an independent run: “It’s very possible that I could be the first presidential candidate to run and make money on it.”

這些支出讓競選活動財務專家和特朗普的批評者皺起了眉頭。共和黨總統候選人特朗普把自己的商業頭腦稱爲競選優勢，而批評者質疑他是否正在做他2000年時曾提到的事情，當時特朗普在考慮獨立參加競選，他說：“我非常有可能會成爲第一個在競選活動中賺到錢的總統候選人。”

“He could end up turning a profit if he repaid himself for the campaign loans,” said Paul S. Ryan, a campaign finance expert with the Campaign Legal Center. “He could get all his money back plus the profit margin for what his campaign has paid himself for goods and services.”

“如果他把競選貸款償還給自己，他可能最終就會盈利，”競選法律中心(Campaign Legal Center)的高級顧問保羅·S·瑞安(Paul S. Ryan)說。“他可以拿回他所有的錢，外加競選活動付錢購買他自己的商品和服務產生的利潤。”

While most candidates list an array of vendors providing goods and services on their F.E.C. filings, Mr. Trump’s is packed with payments to his various clubs and buildings, his fleet of planes and his family. The self-proclaimed billionaire is required by law to account for his spending this way to prevent his companies from making illegal corporate donations to his campaign. In 2015, about $2.7 million was paid to at least seven companies Mr. Trump owns or to people who work for his real estate and branding empire, repaying them for services provided to his campaign.

大多數候選人在向FEC提交的文件中都列出了提供商品和服務的供應商名單，而特朗普的文件中寫滿了支付給他的各種俱樂部、物業、飛機和家人的錢。法律要求這位自稱的億萬富翁以這種方式解釋他的支出，以防他的公司非法向他的競選活動提供企業捐款。在2015年，競選團隊支付了約270萬美元給特朗普旗下的至少七家公司，或是給那些爲他的地產和品牌帝國效力的人，用以購買相關的服務。

In May, the biggest-ticket item was Mr. Trump’s use of the Mar-a-Lago Club, his Florida resort, which was paid $423,000. The campaign paid $350,000 to TAG Air for his private airplanes, $125,000 to Trump Restaurants and more than $170,000 to Trump Tower, the Manhattan skyscraper that houses the campaign’s headquarters.

今年5月，最大的一筆開支是特朗普使用他在佛羅里達的度假村“馬阿拉歌莊園”(Mar-a-Lago)的費用，爲42.3萬美元。競選團隊還爲他使用私人飛機支付了35萬美元給TAG Air公司，向特朗普酒店(Trump Restaurants)支付12.5萬美元，向曼哈頓的特朗普大廈(Trump Tower)支付逾17萬美元；他的競選總部就設在這棟大樓裏。

Mr. Trump’s family also profited from the campaign last month, with his son Eric’s Virginia wine business taking in about $1,300.

特朗普的家人也從競選活動中賺了錢，上個月，團隊向他兒子艾瑞克(Eric)在弗吉尼亞經營的葡萄酒企業支付了1300美元。

And Mr. Trump, who has said he will not take a salary if he is elected president, paid himself $3,085 in May. The disbursements are related to travel expenses, according to the filings.

特朗普曾表示，如果自己當上總統，任職期間不會拿任何薪水，但5月份他給自己開了3085美元。從文件看，這筆錢和差旅費有關。

Mr. Ryan said that the extent to which Mr. Trump was utilizing his own businesses for his run was unprecedented and that because of his unique financial circumstances, he was wading into territory that went beyond the F.E.C.’s guidance.

瑞安說，特朗普在競選活動中對自己的生意的利用是前所未有的，而且由於他獨特的財務狀況，這種做法超出了FEC的指導範圍。

“We don’t have clear answers,” Mr. Ryan said. “Historically, candidates would separate themselves from their business interests when running for office. Trump has done the opposite by promoting his businesses while running for office.”

“我們沒有明確的答案，”瑞恩說。“從歷史上看，候選人在競選公職的時候，會對自己的商業利益採取避嫌的做法。而特朗普恰恰相反，他競選公職的時候還在推廣自己的生意。”

While candidates often gain notoriety from running for president, they are barred from enriching themselves directly from their campaigns. When a campaign buys copies of a candidate’s book in bulk and distributes them, for example, the candidate cannot accept royalties from the purchases. However, Mr. Ryan notes that the F.E.C. does allow candidates who own commercial property to rent it from themselves at fair market rates, as Mr. Trump has regularly done. Mr. Trump’s use of his branded water and steaks falls into something of a gray area.

雖然競選總統經常給競選人招致惡名，但他們被禁止直接通過競選活動中飽私囊。例如，如果競選團隊批量購買候選人寫的書，分發它們，候選人不能從這種採購中獲得版稅。然而，瑞安指出，FEC確實允許那些擁有商業物業的候選人，以公平的市場價格，把它們出租給競選活動，特朗普就常常這麼做。特朗普使用自己品牌的飲用水和牛排的方式屬於一種灰色地帶。

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, an election law expert at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, said that Mr. Trump did not appear to be violating any campaign finance laws, but that he could face more scrutiny over the use of his businesses for campaign purposes now that he is more explicitly asking supporters to donate money for to campaign.

席亞拉·託雷斯-斯拜裏希(Ciara Torres-Spelliscy)是紐約大學布倫南正義中心(New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice)的選舉法專家，她說，特朗普並未違反任何競選財務法，但他現在更加明確地要求支持者捐錢給他的競選活動了，所以他在競選活動中使用自己的產品和服務就應該面臨更多的關注。

“It is something to keep an eye on, because as soon as you start using campaign money that has come in from donors, not just the money that he has loaned to himself, and he uses it for something that he will personally keep, or his family will personally keep, that is what crosses the line.”

“這是值得注意的事情，因爲一旦你開始使用來自捐助者的競選資金，而不僅僅是你自己貸款給自己的錢，且用這些錢來購買自己或家人擁有的東西，那就越過了界限。”

Whether Mr. Trump could end up profiting from his campaign remains a subject of speculation; some have questioned if he will eventually ask for the more than $40 million that he has lent to his campaign to be repaid. The eventual effect of the campaign on Mr. Trump’s personal brand, which he has said represents a large part of his wealth, also remains unclear.

人們仍在推測，特朗普是否最終可以從他的競選活動中獲利；他貸款給自己的競選活動4000萬美元，有人質疑他是否最終會要求連本帶息地償還這筆錢。特朗普曾表示，個人品牌是自己財富的很大一部分，而這場競選對其個人品牌的最終影響目前也仍不清楚。

Democrats on Tuesday tried to seize on the payments Mr. Trump made to his businesses as evidence of hypocrisy. Commenters on the liberal website Daily Kos ridiculed Mr. Trump for running a “scampaign” and overstating the personal investment he was making in his campaign by funneling the money back to his empire.

民主黨人週二試圖抓住特朗普付錢給自己的企業這一點，證明他的虛僞。自由派網站Daily Kos上的評論者嘲笑特朗普“謀財騙選”(scampaign)，通過將資金輸送回自己的商業帝國，誇大了自己對競選的個人投資。

Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee and Mr. Trump’s main rival this fall, also piled on, taking to Twitter on Tuesday to jab him over the expenditures and his relatively paltry fund-raising sum in one swipe. “What is Trump spending his meager campaign resources on?” she said. “Why, himself, of course.”

特朗普在今年秋天的主要對手、穩獲民主黨總統提名的希拉里·克林頓(Hillary Clinton)也加入了進來，於週二在Twitter上針對他這些開支和相比之下微不足道的籌資額一併進行攻擊。“特朗普把他微薄的競選資源用在了什麼地方？”她說。“呃，當然是他自己身上。”