A super PAC aligned with former President Donald Trump paid his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, $155,000 in 2021, according to new financial filings.
The New York Times first reported that the group, Make America Great Again, Again — which has since been closed — made the unusual payment to the first lady in December 2021. The payment was not included on the group’s initial federal reports, which instead listed two transactions, for $125,000 and $30,000, last year for a client called the Designer’s Management Agency.
Melania Trump is listed as a client of that agency.
The payments were revealed Thursday after Trump filed new financial disclosure forms, which listed the $155,000 figure as the fee for a “speaking engagement.” The date of the payment coincides with a private fundraiser at the Trumps’ Mar-a-Lago club in Florida at the the time, which sold seats for $125,000 a pop.
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The Times notes that it’s unusual for the spouse of a presidential candidate to be paid by their campaign or a political group affiliated with them. But federal rules for political groups are relatively lenient when it comes to describing where money ends up. PACs are only required to disclose the first vendor paid in such transactions.
Make America Great Again, Again was the main super PAC supporting Trump at the time, but closed at the end of 2022 and transferred its remaining $8.9 million in funds to another pro-Trump political group.
A treasurer for the shuttered super PAC told the publication it had complied with “all applicable reporting obligations.”