President’s Long Relationship with Kodak Includes “Celebrity Apprentice” Ads and Feature in Trump University Book

Read the Daily Beast Story HERE

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Today, new reporting in the Daily Beast revealed that despite President Trump’s effort to distance himself from Eastman Kodak Co.’s recent $765 million deal with the government to produce drugs in the U.S., Trump’s relationship with the company spans back to his reality TV days — where the company spent millions advertising on President Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” show.

Kodak sponsored numerous episodes of “The Celebrity Apprentice” over the course of three seasons between 2008 and 2010, potentially paying as much as $2 million — as Trump made as much as $3 million — per episode. Kodak’s government deal is currently under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the inspector general of the US International Development Finance Corp. for potential wrongdoing surrounding the loan’s announcement.

While the president explicitly claimed that he “wasn’t involved in” the Kodak agreement, the Daily Beast’s new revelations call Trump’s efforts to dissociate himself from the questionable deal into question.

“Kodak paid millions of dollars to sponsor Trump’s reality show career. Claims that the president had nothing to do with his administration’s effort to spend nearly a billion tax dollars transforming the company into a pharmaceutical giant is laughable,” said Kyle Herrig, president of government watchdog Accountable.US. “A thorough, independent investigation is clearly warranted.”

Read the full story here.

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