Photo by Caroline Tompkins
Get the VICE App on iOS and Android.While Donald Trump continues to brand his opponent as the most "crooked" presidential candidate to ever run for office, Federal Election Commission documents show that the GOP nominee used more than $55,000 of campaign donations to buy his own book—which is illegal, if the money made it back into his own pocket.The Daily Beast reports that back in May, the Trump campaign spent that large chunk of change at Barnes & Nobel, buying thousands of copies of his book, Crippled America. While it's not illegal or unheard of for politicians to buy their own books in bulk for gifts, they do need to forgo the royalties to adhere to federal election guidelines.A spokeswoman from the Trump campaign told the Beast the books were bought for the Republican National Convention, and delegates did receive a copy of the book in their Trumped-out swag bags.This isn't the first instance of speculation into how Trump's campaign funds are being used to pad his business empire. The campaign office's rent at Trump Towers has reportedly been steadily increasing since the mogul won the nomination and secured fundraising from the RNC—from $35,458 a month when he was self-financing, to $169,758 in July. Trump also likes to hold press conferences and campaign events at his various golf courses or hotels around the country.Both the Trump campaign and the book's publisher, Simon & Schuster, have declined to comment on whether or not the Republican nominee received the royalties from the $55,000 purchase.Read: I Lived on Trump Products for a Week to See if It Would Make Me Great Again