Trump says he forgives $50M campaign loan

Donald Trump says he has forgiven more than $50 million in loans he made to his Republican primary campaign for president.

“Mr. Trump has fully extinguished this loan per his commitment,” the Trump campaign said Thursday in a statement to reporters.

{mosads}”Therefore, he has personally invested in excess of $50 million dollars in the future of our country.”

Forgiving the loans is an important step for Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, who needs to win over skeptical donors.

Despite saying he had self-funded his primary campaign, the money Trump gave was in the form of loans, which meant he could ultimately repay himself using donations from regular contributors.

This fact was becoming a source of tension among Republican donors who were worried that the money they gave to the Trump campaign would end up going into the billionaire’s own pockets.

These donor concerns were heightened when Trump revealed just $1.3 million on hand at the end of May. Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton ended the month with $42.5 million in the bank.

Since the damaging news broke on Monday, the Trump campaign has done a series of media interviews to insist their fundraising is doing well.

To forgive his $50 million in loans, Trump needs to send a “loan forgiveness statement” to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

The FEC hasn’t yet registered the loan forgiveness statement, despite Trump’s national finance chair, Steve Mnuchin, telling CNBC on Thursday, “We just forgave the loan this week.”

Asked on Thursday afternoon whether the presumptive nominee had in fact sent the loan forgiveness letter, Trump’s communications director, Hope Hicks replied, “It will be completed today.”