Trump Has Now Moved $2.3 Million Of Campaign-Donor Money Into His Private Business

Plus: The Fed Just Announced A Major Inflation Policy Change—Here’s Why That Matters

We’re continuing to follow the money trail, tracking how President Trump is shifting contributions from his donors to his businesses. In July Trump’s companies accepted about $50,000 in payments from his own campaign, bringing the total to $2.3 million since 2017. 

One of Trump’s newest donors is the wife of billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who briefly served as an advisor to the president. The Icahns gave $250,000 to committees supporting Trump’s 2016 campaign, but had been slow to put money behind the president’s reelection campaign.

Mind On Their Money

Gail Icahn, wife of billionaire Carl Icahn, has made her first donation to Trump's reelection campaign. The Icahns gave hundreds of thousands to support Trump’s first presidential run but have been slow to put money behind him in 2020.

New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the Trump Organization—along with the president’s son Eric Trump—to force the company to comply as she investigates whether the company allegedly inflated its assets to secure loans and other deals.

The White House on Thursday said the administration is assembling a “dossier” on David Fahrenthold, a Washington Post journalist who often reports on President Trump’s private businesses and finances. This comes after Fahrenthold reported on Thursday that the Secret Service has become a “captive customer” to Trump properties, paying out nearly $1 million to the Trump Organization after 270 visits by Trump during his presidency.

Stimulus update. During a Thursday press briefing, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) again brushed off the possibility of further stimulus talks with the White House without major concessions on spending from the Trump Administration. 

Florida will apply for President Trump’s enhanced unemployment program, becoming the 33rd state to do so. The state will get about three weeks of benefits to start, but warned that the funding could run out “at any time.”

In September, the final month of the fiscal year, federal agencies scramble to spend the leftovers in their annual budgets. $188 billion was spent in September over the past two fiscal years. Here are ten ways federal agencies spent $91 billion in September 2019.

The U.S. remains stuck in a recession and it will likely take years for economic growth to return to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels, economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) warned on Monday.

Former Goldman Sachs president and economic adviser to President Trump Gary Cohn is the latest high profile figure on Wall Street to join a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), seeking to raise $600 million in an initial public offering.

Global Economy

France on Thursday reported its second-highest tally of new daily coronavirus infections since the beginning of the pandemic and the most since the country’s strict lockdown ended, the latest signal that Western Europe is seeing a resurgence of coronavirus cases.

The U.S. has added 24 Chinese companies and associated individuals to sanctions list. Washington has said the action targets entities and individuals in China who are involved in building artificial islands in the South China Sea.

Online Indian retailers have filed an antitrust case against Amazon. The retailers allege that the company offers preferential treatment to certain sellers in which Amazon holds a partial stake.

Nearly half of U.S. businesses in China say WeChat's ban could hit revenues in a recent survey.

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