City of El Paso penalizes Trump campaign nearly $100K for unpaid bill

The City of El Paso has added a one-time ‘collection fee’ of nearly $100,000 to its unpaid invoice to the Donald J. Trump for President campaign for President Trump’s February 11th rally in El Paso.

The city warned the campaign of the looming penalty in a letter to the campaign on May 23rd. The collection fee of $98,787.58 added to the existing $470,417.05 invoice means the City of El Paso is demanding nearly $600,000 from the Trump campaign for services rendered during his rally.

The City of El Paso tells ABC-7 it has not received any response from the Trump campaign in the months since the initial invoice, which was first obtained and reported by ABC-7, was sent.

When asked if the city will take legal action against the Trump campaign a city spokeswoman told ABC-7, “We’re still evaluating that.”

El Paso bill stands above the rest

President Trump’s February 11th rally at the El Paso County Coliseum was his first in 2019. He’s held five more rallies since, including his official re-election campaign kickoff at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida last week.

ABC-7 has reached out to each of those five host cities and discovered no other bill comes close to El Paso’s $470,417.05.

March 28, 2019: Grand Rapids, MI — $300 venue fee (PAID); $77 temporary use permit (UNPAID) April 27, 2019: Ashwaubenon, WI — ABC-7 has not received a response May 8, 2019: Panama City Beach, FL — $350 (PAID) May 20, 2019: Montoursville, PA — No invoices were sent to Trump campaign June 18, 2019: Orlando, FL (re-election kickoff) — $144,267.83 venue fee (PAID)

The Center for Public Integrity recently published an investigative report that cites ABC-7’s reporting on the El Paso rally costs. It also includes nine other rallies dating back to pre-election rallies on the campaign trail in 2016. No bill comes within $400,000 of the invoice sent by the City of El Paso.

But the City of El Paso isn’t alone in coming up with a six-figure cost for a President Trump rally. An August 2017 rally in Phoenix cost taxpayers there more than $450,000.

ABC-7 has made several attempts to get comment from the Trump campaign, but we have not received a response.