If he runs for president, Donald Trump is likely to spend $200 million of his own funds - in his latest publicity stunt -
If he runs for president, Donald Trump is likely to take a page out of other recent billionaire political aspirant's playbooks and cut himself a check to the tune of $200 million to finance the expensive endeavor.
That's according to longtime GOP operative Roger Stone, who is currently an informal adviser to Trump.
"I would imagine he would be a self-funder," Stone told Politico Thursday.
"I would imagine he would be a self-funder," Stone told Politico Thursday.
"I think he passes up public finance because he then could say, 'I don't answer to anybody but myself and the American people, not special interests,'" Stone also said.
"He's sitting on $2 billion in cash. That's what he says. And if that's true, he could write a check for $200 million if he wanted to."
Trump would be the latest in a string of wealthy individuals who have completely self-financed their campaigns with mixed results. Most recently, ex-eBay CEO Meg Whitman dropped close to $150 million of her own fortune in her unsuccessful bid last year to become governor of California.
In 2009, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent $90 million of his own money only to narrowly squeak out a re-election victory over the poorly funded city comptroller William Thompson.
Of course, it remains to be seen if Trump is actually serious about running for president, or, more likely, stringing the media along in his latest publicity stunt.
But MSNBC's Joe Scarborough reported Friday Trump told him his current presidential deliberations are no joke.
"I talked to him yesterday on the phone ... and he said, 'Most people out there think this is a joke – that I'm doing this for publicity. Imagine what happens the day I announce I am actually running for president,'" Scarborough aid on his program Friday.
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