casting couch

FEC Document Reveals Trump Hired Actors to Attend Campaign Launch Event

President Trump at the Freedom Ball Ball in Washington, D. C.
Not a paid actor. Photo: Pool/Getty Images

Soon after Trump announced he’d be running for president, The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Extra Mile, a casting agency, had hired actors to fill out his announcement event. Though Trump’s team denied this, a document released Thursday by the Federal Election Commission proves otherwise. The document shows that the FEC dismissed the allegation filed by activist group American Democracy Legal Fund, which alleged that Trump’s team had violated reporting laws related to payments for the actors. According to Slate, “The FEC concluded that no significant violation had occurred because the campaign later disclosed a payment to a contractor (Gotham Government Relations) that subcontracted with Extra Mile.” But in dismissing the allegation, the FEC concluded that there were, in fact, paid actors attending the event, which Trump’s camp claims to have not been aware of. Ah, yes, the classic accidental hiring of paid actors. But most importantly, how many of those background actors have gone on to be college students on The Affair or a part of the crowd being addressed by the Young Pope? And where’s the document about that?

Actors Hired to Attend Trump Campaign Event