With less than a week left before the Nov. 8 election, PolitiFact Georgia is looking at how Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump have fared on fact-checks about major issues in the race for president of the United States.
Today we look at their statements on campaign finance.
Donald Trump on Wednesday, September 28th, 2016 in a speech:
“In her campaign for president, Hillary Clinton has received $100 million in contributions from Wall Street and hedge funds.”
The number one source for this information, opensecrets.com, puts the figure at $64 million.
The center generally considers “Wall Street” and hedge funds to be the securities and investment industry. However, other industries could be added, as well.
Trump’s campaign didn’t respond to us with evidence to back his claim.
We rated Trump's statement False.
Donald Trump on Tuesday, July 5th, 2016 in a tweet:
“Taxpayers are paying a fortune for the use of Air Force One on the campaign trail” by President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
While the word “fortune” is somewhat subjective and some details about the costs of using the presidential plane are secret, Air Force One is no economy class.
But based on available information, it’s clear that the campaign is only going to be picking up a small fraction of the $200,000-plus hourly costs of using the plane. Taxpayers will pay the rest.
We rated Trump's statement Mostly True.
Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, March 15th, 2016 in a victory speech after the March 15 primaries:
“Our campaign depends on small donations for the majority of our support.”
Earlier this year, Clinton said the majority of campaign donations are small donations, and while the campaign’s best evidence for this isn’t independently verifiable, Clinton is wrong.
Small donors accounted for only 17 percent of the dollar amount her campaign has collected from individuals through Jan. 31, and 19 percent of the dollar amount collected through Feb. 29.
We rated the statement Mostly False.
Donald Trump on Monday, February 1st, 2016 in a campaign rally in Iowa:
“I’m self-funding my own campaign.”
As of the end of 2015, Trump’s own contributions account for more than half of all money the campaign has taken in.
However, a significant portion of his money comes from individual contributions. For several months last year, the campaign received far more dollars from potential voters than they did from Trump. At the time this story was reported, most of Trump’s contributions have been loans rather than donations, so he may hope to recoup those funds.
The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rated it Half True.
Hillary Clinton on Sunday, March 6th, 2016 in a Democratic debate in Flint, Mich.:
“President Obama took more money from Wall Street in the 2008 campaign than anybody ever had.”
Adjusting for inflation, Obama garnered about $3 million more than George W. Bush if you look at the broad “finance, insurance and real estate” sector. But using the “securities and investment” category, a closer measure of Wall Street contributions, Obama definitely set a new record in 2008. However, Romney upped that ante by $5 million in 2012.
Because the statement is accurate but needs clarification, we rated it Mostly True.
About the Author
