Donald Trump’s campaign has made payments to a new company set up by his lawyer Alina Habba for work on his presidential bid.
As the November election nears, Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris are ramping up their spending and fundraising efforts via their campaigns.
According to the latest disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) this weekend, Trump’s campaign made three payments to a company called Barakkat totalling $43,333.33.
The FEC filings did not say that Barakkat is linked to Habba and the purpose of the payments was listed as for “communications consulting.”
AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, POOL
Entity records submitted to Florida’s Division of Corporations and viewed by Newsweek show that Habba, who has worked as Trump’s lawyer and legal spokesperson, is listed as the authorized person at the company, which was registered in the Sunshine State on August 12, 2024. Trump’s campaign confirmed the company is Habba’s political consulting company.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of Habba or Trump. The FEC only requires the payee, such as the company, to be listed in financial disclosure documents and not who owns it.
But speaking to Newsweek, Saurav Ghosh, the Director of Federal Campaign Finance Reform at the non-partisan democracy group Campaign Legal Center (CLC) raised questions about the transparency of the Trump campaign’s financial reporting.
He said: “It’s concerning to see a presidential campaign reporting thousands of dollars in payments to a newly formed, obscure company with a bare-bones description of the services that company is purportedly providing to the campaign.
“It’s unsurprising that we’re seeing more of this behavior given the FEC’s failure to enforce basic federal transparency rules about the ultimate recipients of campaign spending.”
Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump campaign said: “This is an entirely common practice and is employed by the Kamala campaign, as well as every other campaign in the last few decades. Mrs. Habba began her work as senior advisor to the campaign and has been paid through her political consulting company. This is nothing more than the Campaign Legal Center trying to spread faux outrage and using rhetoric that has emboldened the disgusting assassination attempts against President Trump.”
Cheung did not provide specific examples of other campaigns using similar companies. Newsweek contacted the Harris campaign by email to comment.
In June, committees linked to Trump’s campaign faced questions over reports it gave more than $3 million to a company, Launchpad Strategies LLC, which at the time provided no information about its owners or services. Its website now describes itself as a Republican digital agency that provides services including advertising and online fundraising but does not provide further information about its owners or team.
The latest FEC filings show that Trump’s campaign raised $45 million in the month of August while Vice President Harris’ raised more $190 million. During this period, Trump spent $61 million while Harris spent almost three times this amount—$174 million. She ended the month with $235 million and Trump ended it with $134 million.
The FEC told Newsweek it could not comment on specific candidates or committees.