Trump's campaign 'may have crossed a legal line' with bogus contest offers: NYT

Donald Trump's campaign frequently sends supporters contest offers that often involve opportunities to personally meet or have dinner with the former president.

However, the New York Times took a close-up look at the Trump campaign's contests and could not find any documented "winners" in the vast majority of the offers.

"In several emails to subscribers since late August, the campaign has included two photos it said were of contest winners: a man named William McGuffin and his son, as well as another pair whose names the campaign did not provide," the paper writes. "A Times review of local news and social media sources did not find winners for any of the other 39 contests... In addition to asking the campaign about contest winners, The Times reviewed local news and social media posts for evidence of winners beyond Mr. McGuffin and did not find any additional winners."

In contrast, Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign was able to produce the names of six winners for the nine contests that it has run, and it says that the remaining three contests are still ongoing and no winners have yet been announced.

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The Times then adds that Trump's campaign "may have crossed a legal line" if it didn't actually award its promised prizes, although that depends on federal and state sweepstakes regulations since the Federal Election Commission doesn't specify any rules for how campaigns run such contests.

“Sweepstakes rules should be crystal clear about whether a sponsor will award all prizes or whether a sponsor will choose alternate winners if the original potential winners are disqualified,” Kyle-Beth Hilfer, an advertising and marketing law attorney in New York, told the Times. “Any ambiguity could lead to a legal challenge from an entrant or even a regulator.”