"Let's be honest, when does Trump ever pay his bills?"
The city holding the lion's share of unpaid bills is El Paso, Texas the Trump campaign owes $470,417 for a rally back in February.
City council Rep. Alexsandra Annello told the El Paso Times:
"It shows a lack of concern for the community and the taxpaying voters of El Paso. President Trump has in many ways, over the last year, put a financial burden on this community and has yet to show us the respect we deserve. It is clear that our borderland is not a priority of the president."
Former Texas Rep. and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke held a smaller counter-rally outside the Trump rally, costing the city $21,000.
He paid it back before the due date.
El Paso Mayor Donald "Dee" Margo is "hopeful" Trump will eventually pay.
He commented:
"I'm hopeful they'll do what's right. People that don't pay their billsthat's a character integrity issue."
60 cities have policies against charging politicians for police costs; others chose not to specifically charge Trump, like Youngstown, Ohio, where a recent Trump campaign stop cost taxpayers $11,147 for 48 police officers.
While it's true presidential campaigns are expensive, the Trump re-election campaign is not short on cash.
According to federal records, the campaign reported in March nearly $40.8 million in available funds.
Moreover, even though election law requires campaigns report debts, including those deemed "disputed," the Trump campaign has not reported any to municipal governments or police departments in Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings.
In addition to standard traffic and crowd control, police departments face a unique challenge when it comes to Trump rallies: violence.
A University of Pennsylvania study found cities that hosted Trump experienced an average of 2.3 more assaults on those days than others.
(Those still inclined to throw up Hillary Clinton as a false equivalency might be interested to know the same UPenn study found no such violent link to her rallies.)
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