A new mystery firm enters Trump’s orbit, rekindling criticism of his presidential campaign spending

WASHINGTON (AP) — Launchpad Strategies was incorporated less than a year ago and has since received $15 million from Donald Trump’s election fundraising machine.

For what is mostly a mystery. Campaign finance records indicate the limited liability company was hired to provide online advertising, digital consulting and fundraising. On its website, the firm boasts it is a “full-service Republican digital agency run by expert strategists.”

Yet, those expert strategists aren’t identified. An online contact form does not appear to work. And business registration records in Delaware provide no clues as to who owns or runs the firm. The campaign’s checks are sent to a P.O. Box in North Carolina.

Campaign finance experts said Launchpad Strategies was built for anonymity and is the latest example of how the Trump campaign has used secretive businesses to obscure its spending from the public.

“The Trump campaigns sort of exhibit a lot of the patterns of behavior that we’ve become accustomed to with Trump and his associates,” said Michael Kang, a law professor at Northwestern University. “There does seem to be some kind of self-dealing in a lot of what they do when it comes to their financial matters.”

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