State Watch

El Paso still waiting on $500K from Trump campaign for February rally, officials say

Officials in El Paso, Texas, say that President Trump’s reelection campaign still has not paid its bill for expenses incurred during his campaign visit to the area early last year. 

According to a local ABC station, the reelection campaign racked up a bill amounting to roughly $470,000 that had primarily stemmed from services provided by the city’s police force and fire department during his visit in February 2019.

Since then, however, officials reportedly say the city has added more than $98,000 to the bill in late fees. The president’s campaign now reportedly owes just shy of $570,000 in total charges.

The Hill reached out to both the president’s campaign and the office of the mayor of El Paso for comment on Sunday.

This is not the first time the president’s campaign has faced pressure from city officials in El Paso over the bill.

Last August, his bill was met with scrutiny in the city in the wake of mass shooting in El Paso that left 22 people dead. At the time, Trump had said the city would receive “all the support of the federal government.”

City Rep. Alexsandra Annello had also taken aim at the president months before in June over the debt, saying “it shows a lack of concern for the community and the tax paying 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,” she added then.