The Trump campaign has paid six figures for insurance to a corporation that has an executive who has donated heavily to the campaign as well as a pro-Trump Super PAC.
Aon Corporation—a global provider of risk management, insurance, and reassurance brokerage whose headquarters is in London, England and has 500 offices in over 120 countries—has been paid nearly $300,000 for insurance from the Trump campaign.
Pamela Newman is the president and CEO of the Newman Team at Aon Corporation and works out of the address that the Trump campaign dispersed the funds to.
Newman, a Manhattan insurance executive and prominent New York City fundraiser, was the first person to donate to Trump’s campaign, which formally launched on June 16, 2015. Her $2,700 donation, the maximum amount, is dated June 1, 2015—more than two weeks before the campaign had formally launched.
In addition to providing a maximum donation to Trump’s campaign, Newman gave tens of thousands to a pro-Trump Super PAC one month after his campaign kicked off.
Two transactions are shown from Newman to the Make America Great Again Super PAC on July 15, 2015. The first transaction was a donation in the amount of $30,000, which was later refunded, while the second was a $25,000 in-kind contribution, which is typically designated toward a particular good or service. Newman’s in-kind contribution does not list a purpose.
The first payment from Trump’s campaign to Aon Risk Services Northeast, Inc., a subsidiary of Aon Corporation located in New York City, was made on May 27, 2015 in the amount of $6,933.
Later, on Jan. 11, 2016, a second payment was made totaling $116,343. On Feb. 24, 2016, a third transaction in the amount of $175,441 was given to the New York City office for insurance services, bringing the total paid to Aon Risk Services Northeast to $298,717.
The Make America Great Again PAC came under heavy fire last year due to its closeness to the Trump campaign itself. The operator said in October they would be shutting down the PAC.
However, despite this claim, the PAC shows no sign of having closed.
Statements posted on the Federal Election Commission website do not show a termination report, which should have appeared alongside the PAC’s year-end report if the decision were made in October. The group’s website is also still in operation.
An FEC spokesperson confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon that the PAC is still active, as they have yet to receive a termination letter seeking to end the committee even after their year-end filing was submitted.
The FEC requested additional information from the PAC due to incomplete identifications and also sought further information on the PACs in-kind donations, as they lacked even a brief statement or description.
The PAC has yet to give an explanation or provide the requested information, the FEC spokesperson confirmed. The PAC did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Newman, in addition to her campaign and PAC contributions, has also hosted at least one fundraiser for Trump, Bloomberg reported last October.
Trump and Newman appear to have a relationship dating back to at least 2011.
Trump praised Newman, saying she "kicks ass" during an interview in December of that year. The host of the interview named an extensive list of Newman’s clientele at the time, which included the Trump organization.
Newman has given thousands in political donations throughout the years to both sides of the political aisle, including more than $3,000 in contributions to Hillary Clinton between 2005 and 2007, $2,500 to President Obama in 2011, and $2,500 to Mitt Romney in 2012.
Newman’s donation to Trump is the only contribution she has provided to a presidential candidate this election cycle, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
When attempting to contact Newman, the Free Beacon was passed on to Aon’s senior director for external communications who said that the company does not comment on political contributions from employees.
Donald Trump’s campaign also did not return a request for comment.