Trump ‘stiffs law enforcement officers’: Nikki Haley, citing Raw Story

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley issued a statement Monday based on a recent Raw Story article, calling on former President Donald Trump to pay law enforcement who protect his presidential campaign events.

Haley cited Raw Story’s article “Siren: New Hampshire town eats Trump security bills while Haley pays local police,” where Raw Story obtained documents through an open records request showing that Trump’s June 27 visit to Concord, N.H., cost the local police and fire departments $3,778.85.

Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and a former U.N. ambassador under the Trump administration, said Trump should pay for costs incurred by law enforcement who will be staffing his visit Monday afternoon in Derry, N.H.

“If Trump refuses to pay, the cost will be borne by hardworking New Hampshire taxpayers,” the statement said.

“The Trump campaign has more than enough money to reimburse police for providing security at the few events he holds,” said Ken Farnaso, a Haley spokesperson, in the statement. “It’s ridiculous to stiff law enforcement and ultimately stick taxpayers with the bill. Nikki Haley wants to make sure police and their families are paid. Apparently, Donald Trump doesn’t care.”

Trump isn’t legally on the hook for the security costs in Concord because he didn’t have a contract with the departments for the service. The only time Trump’s campaign has paid police bills, generally, is when Trump appears at a venue that a local government owns, giving the government leverage over Trump to sign an up-front agreement that includes payment for public safety coverage.

But most presidential campaigns conduct events at private venues. And presidential campaigns ranging from Republican Sen. Ted Cruz to independent Sen. Bernie Sanders have voluntarily paid for such services in response to invoices or to show their support for the law enforcement who protect campaign events, often in small towns and on short notice.

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The Haley campaign paid $1,722 total to six New Hampshire police departments throughout July and August, according to a Raw Story analysis of Haley’s latest quarterly campaign finance report to the Federal Election Commission.

Like Concord, other cities such as Manchester, N.H., and Novi, Mich., have chosen to cover security costs for Trump visits and to not bill his campaign.

But many cities have billed Trump’s campaign — to no avail — in an effort to recoup MAGA rally-related costs that have skyrocketed into the five- and six-figure range.

Among them: Minneapolis; El Paso, Texas; and Albuquerque, N.M.

Erie, Pa., for its part, is still trying to collect on a $35,000 bill from 2018, Raw Story reported.

When Trump first didn’t pay his 2018 bill in Erie, the Center for Public Integrity reported that Trump had not only stiffed Erie but also hadn’t paid $841,219 total to various city governments. The campaign’s unpaid bills grew to nearly $2 million by December 2020, Insider reported.

Trump is maintaining an active campaign schedule despite facing various legal battles, including 91 felony charges across four indictments and a separate civil trial in New York that threatens to upend his business empire.

Trump remains the dominant frontrunner in the Republican presidential primary race, polling at 59% nationally, according to Morning Consult. Haley is tied for third in the race with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, polling nationally at 7%.

Haley is faring somewhat better in recent New Hampshire-specific polls, where she’s been attracting more interest and is now running a distant second to Trump, according to a poll of polls by FiveThirtyEight.