Four cities across the United States are seeking more than $700,000 from Donald Trump‘s campaign team as reimbursement for rallies they helped stage between 2016 and 2019, according to a Newsweek investigation.
The cities—El Paso, Texas; Spokane, Washington; Mesa, Arizona; and Green Bay, Wisconsin—all said they had outstanding invoices with Trump’s team. Billings, Montana, said it also hadn’t been reimbursed for assisting with a rally. However, a spokesperson said the city couldn’t find any record of a written invoice to the Trump campaign for the event and wasn’t actively pursuing the matter.
During the 2016 and 2020 presidential election campaigns, Trump relied heavily on large public rallies to motivate his supporters, though he has hosted relatively few during his 2024 White House bid. On July 13, the former president narrowly survived an assassination attempt after a gunman opened fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The shooter killed a rallygoer and injured Trump in his right ear.
The continued requests for payments related to these past rallies come at a tough time for the Trump campaign financially, with Federal Election Commission filings showing it is being significantly outraised by Vice President Kamala Harris‘ campaign. In July, the Democrat raised $204.5 million against Trump’s $47.5 million. The vice president’s team ended the month with $219.7 million in its accounts, while the Republican nominee had $151.3 million.
Overall, between January 2023 and the end of July 2024, the Harris campaign, formerly President Joe Biden‘s campaign, raised $516.8 million, while Trump brought in $268.5 million, FEC figures showed.
In June 2019, the Center for Public Integrity published an investigation that found 10 city authorities were seeking at least $841,219 from the Trump campaign as recompense for expenses, such as policing, they had incurred during rallies. In addition to those mentioned above, the list included these cities: Tucson, Arizona; Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Erie, Pennsylvania; Lebanon, Ohio; and Burlington, Vermont.
Newsweek contacted all 10 local authorities for this piece via a combination of email, online inquiry form and telephone calls.
Speaking to Newsweek, a spokesperson for the El Paso City Council said they initially sought $470,417.05 to cover the cost of an event Trump staged in the city on February 11, 2019. However, the spokesperson said, “the Trump campaign has not submitted any payments for their debt,” so the city is now asking for the initial fee plus a one-time late fee of 21 percent—i.e., $98,787.58—bringing the total to $569,204.63.
The spokesperson added: “On Nov. 23, 2020, the City Council unanimously took action to hire the Law Offices of Snapper L. Carr to advocate in the City’s interest in the collection of the outstanding invoices.
“The City continues to seek the payment of these past due expenses, so City taxpayers do not continue to have to bear the cost.”
Newsweek contacted representatives of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential election campaign and the Republican Party for comment via email on Saturday outside regular office hours.
The director of communications and marketing for Spokane, Washington, told Newsweek that the Trump campaign still owed the city $65,124.99 for an event held on May 7, 2016. The official provided Newsweek with an invoice from the Spokane Police Department that showed the figure. The bill was addressed to the Trump campaign and dated May 11, 2016.
The communications director for Mesa, Arizona, told Newsweek the city had requested $64,467.56 from the Trump campaign for an event the Republican held on October 19, 2018. The director added that the “amount is still outstanding.”
The official attached a December 2018 letter addressed to Trump’s campaign manager asking for reimbursement. It said: “The Mesa Police Department provided law enforcement personnel for crowd control and traffic control for the over twelve thousand (12,000) people in attendance.
“Additionally, the Mesa Police Department rented equipment for a temporary parking area for twelve thousand (12,000) people which included harriers, security, and towing at a cost of $64,467.56.”
The director also sent a statement from the city: “After President Trump’s rally at the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in October 2018, the City calculated the public safety costs incurred from the campaign event the President attended. We believe the Trump 2020 campaign should reimburse our City for those taxpayer dollars, and we have invoiced the campaign accordingly.
“However, to be clear, the Trump campaign is not legally obligated to cover the costs for the campaign rally that took place at Gateway Airport.”
A spokesperson for Eric Genrich, the mayor of Green Bay, Wisconsin, told Newsweek the Trump campaign had yet to pay a $9,380.10 invoice from the city for police assistance provided during a rally held on August 5, 2016.
A spokesperson for Billings, Montana, told Newsweek it had accumulated costs of $45,900 supporting a Trump rally on September 6, 2018.
“The police chief calculated these expenses and verbally communicated the amounts to the event organizers,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The City considered following up, but recognized there is no legal obligation set by the Federal Election Commission for campaigns to reimburse municipalities for additional public safety measures.”
Billings Mayor Bill Cole said, “It is disappointing when these bills for political events go unpaid because our costs have to be covered somehow, in this case by tapping already-tight budgets for police and firefighters.”
