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Donald Trump Chased Over Unpaid Debts for His Rallies

Newsweek
Published Oct 01, 2024 at 5:07 AM EDT
Updated Oct 02, 2024 at 5:59 AM EDT

Authorities in Erie, Pennsylvania, are still seeking $40,330 from Donald Trump's presidential campaign to pay for assistance they provided for his 2018 and 2023 campaign visits, bringing the total debt five cities say he owes them to over $740,000.

The Erie claim was made by a spokesman for the city's Democratic Mayor Joe Schember during a conversation with the Erie Times-News and confirmed to Newsweek by a spokesperson.

It is in addition to more than $700,000 of unpaid debts that four cities—El Paso, Texas; Spokane, Washington; Mesa, Arizona; and Green Bay, Wisconsin—were still seeking last month for rallies that took place between 2016 and 2019,
a Newsweek investigation found.:
"Unpaid Debts Follow Donald Trump on Campaign Trail"
https://www.newsweek.com/unpaid-debts-are-catching-donald-trump-campaign-trail-1950283

Erie is also calculating a currently undisclosed figure related to the rally Trump held at the city's Bayfront Convention Center on Sunday, which could push the total unpaid debt figure beyond $740,330.

A 2019 report from the Center for Public Integrity found 10 city authorities, including Erie and the four outlined above, were demanding a total of $841,219 as back payments for historic Trump rallies they helped stage.

Rob Lee, the City of Erie's director of communications, told Newsweek: "I can confirm that the Trump campaign still owes the City of Erie a total of $40,329.27 for public safety costs associated [with] campaign visits in 2018 and 2023. These costs were for Police, Fire, and Public Works personnel overtime; $35,129.27 in 2018 and $5,200 in 2023.

"The City of Erie is in the process of creating an invoice for the most recent rally, but the total amount of that invoice is not yet available."

When contacted for comment, a Trump campaign official asked Newsweek to refer the query to the Secret Service.

Addressing Newsweek, Anthony Guglielimi, Secret Service spokesperson, said: "While we can't speak to this specific issue between the city and the campaign, state and local law enforcement play a crucial role in our ability to effectively safeguard the former president and other Secret Service protectees. Currently, the U.S. Secret Service lacks a mechanism to reimburse state and local governments for their support during protective events.

"In recent discussions with Congressional leaders, we've identified this as a critical need, given the essential role our police and public safety partners play. We are grateful for the additional resources provided in the Continuing Resolution, and we will continue to work with Congress to advocate for the necessary grants and resources to support the city, county, and state law enforcement and public safety agencies that assist us every day."

On Sunday, Trump held a rally at Erie's 4,000-capacity Bayfront Convention Center, during which he claimed law enforcement need "one really violent day" to crack down on crime, sparking comparisons online to The Purge film franchise.

Rob Lee, a spokesman for Mayor Schember, told the Erie Times-News: "The Trump campaign still owes the City of Erie a total of $40,330 for public safety costs associated with campaign visits in 2018 and 2023. These costs were for police, fire and public works personnel overtime."

According to the Erie Times-News the bill was split between $35,130 spent supporting a midterm election rally held by the then president in 2018 at the Erie Insurance Arena, along with a second rally Trump held at the same venue in 2023.

Renee Lamis, Schember's chief-of-staff, said the city would also be seeking payment from the Trump campaign to cover its expenditure on Sunday's Bayfront Convention Center rally, although it was still calculating this figure.

During Sunday's rally, Trump said the Biden administration had blocked him from holding an outdoors rally in Wisconsin the previous day, with the venue changed to an arts center in Prairie du Chien with a restricted capacity.

He said: "We were in Wisconsin yesterday, and except for the fact that the administration would not let us have—we had 50,000, maybe more people—and we were going to do an outdoor rally, and we ended up having to do it inside, in front of about a thousand people."

An unnamed figure from the Secret Service, which makes threat assessments independently from the Biden administration, told CBS News and Axios the agency was "never configured to provide such an elevated level of protection for an increasing number of protected."

They said: "Our personnel and equipment are being pushed to their limits to sustain the current operational tempo.

"This proposed Wisconsin event also took place during the United Nations General Assembly, where the Secret Service is responsible for the safety and security of over 140 world leaders amid a challenged global threat level."

Trump narrowly survived an assassination bid on July 13 when a man opened fire at a rally he was hosting in Butler, Pennsylvania. The attack killed one attendee and left the Republican presidential contender bleeding from one ear before the gunman, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead by law enforcement.

Update 10/1/24 11:29 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with a response from a Trump campaign official.

Update 10/2/24 2:45 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with comment from the City of Erie's director of communications and a Secret Service spokesperson.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-chased-over-unpaid-debts-his-rallies-1961765