Mystery Surrounds Payment for Donald Trump's Mexican Helicopter Ride Zeke J Miller - TIME
go to original September 28, 2016

A couple days after Donald Trump’s trip to Mexico City, his campaign posted a video on YouTube showing his arrival at Los Pinos, the official residence and office of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.

The video shows Trump step from a gleaming white Mexican Air Force helicopter that transported him from the Mexico City airport on Aug. 31. “It was really good, thank you,” Trump can be heard saying on the video, when asked by a Mexican official about his trip.

The details of who paid for the helicopter trip, however, remain shrouded in mystery, raising concerns in the capitals of Mexico and the United States.

Campaign finance experts say U.S. election law likely prohibits the Mexican government from picking up the tab of Trump’s helicopter flight, under statutes that bar “any foreign national from contributing, donating or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly or indirectly.” Mexican legislators, meanwhile, have fumed at the possibility hat the Mexican people subsidized Trump’s August visit.

The Trump campaign’s August filing with the Federal Election Commission includes no listed reimbursement to the Mexican government for the use of the helicopter, nor any other associated costs of the trip. In response to questions from TIME, the office of Peña Nieto also declined any comment on the cost of the helicopter flight, and whether there was a reimbursement.

Read the rest at TIME

Related: Who Would be Trump’s Ambassador to Mexico? (The Washington Post)

Related: Mexicans Will Continue to Bash Donald Trump Piñatas (GlobalPost)

Related: Former Mexican President: Trump’s Debate Performance Should Alarm World Leaders (The Washington Post) Photo: AFP/Getty

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