Karoline Leavitt Owes $326,000 in Campaign Debt Including Illegal Contributions

Well, heres a grift you might not have heard about yet.

Karoline Leavitt - Trump’s new White House Press Secretary - used to be a congressional candidate in New Hampshire. She ran for the 1st District seat in 2022, lost to Democrat Chris Pappas by eight points, and somehow came out of it owing over $326,000 in campaign debt she still hasn’t paid.

Most of that debt - about $200,000 - is refunds owed to donors who gave more than the legal limit, and the law gave her campaign 60 days to pay them back. Three years later, her campaign still hasn’t done it.

Former New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson gave her $8,700. Her campaign still owes him a $2,900 refund. Former State Senate Majority Leader Robert Clegg Jr. gave too much, too - he died in 2023, and the campaign still owes him $2,900.

Then there’s the illegal business donations. Campaigns can’t keep checks from businesses unless they say which person the money really came from. Hers did anyway, nearly 30 of them, totaling about $38,000. One came from a dissolved LLC. Another from a Courtyard by Marriott hotel. Yes, a hotel donated to a congressional campaign.

The Federal Election Commission noticed, sent 13 letters over two years, and a watchdog group even filed a complaint. Nothing changed. Then, in January 2025 - right after Leavitt became White House Press Secretary - the campaign quietly amended its filings to reveal all the debts it had hidden. Their excuse? Duplicate filing.

Shes since refunded five donors out of more than 100. Two were her parents. Her husband had already gotten a refund before that. Everyone else, including the dead state senator, is still waiting.

The campaign has no cash at all. The debt is $326,370. Under FEC rules, Leavitt is the only person who could pay it all off directly - anyone else is capped at the contribution limit. She now makes $195,200 as Press Secretary. To raise money to cover the debt, shed have to solicit new donations while serving as the public face of the White House - a glaring ethical problem if anyone decides to buy influence.

And even if the FEC wanted to act, it can’t. The agencys been paralyzed since May because Trump hasn’t nominated enough commissioners to reach a quorum. No quorum means no enforcement, no fines, and no accountability.

The same president who hired her is the one keeping the agency that could punish her from doing its job.

So, yes - the woman now lecturing America from the White House podium still hasn’t paid back a pile of illegal money from a campaign she lost three years ago. And unless the FEC wakes up, she might just get away with it.

Shes just another part of Trump’s administration who should be facing consequences but instead is being shielded by the office of the president.

Correction, September 28th, 2026: This essay first said her husband was one of the five donors the campaign refunded in January - he’d gotten a refund before that, and the other three refunds went to a company, a former volunteer and a party bus company’s registered agent. It also said Leavitt is personally responsible for paying back the debt - her campaign’s lawyer says she isn’t, though she’s the only person who could pay it off directly; that she’s sitting on the illegal money - the campaign already spent it and had no cash at all by October; that she owes Craig Benson $5,800 - the campaign owes him $2,900; that Robert Clegg Jr. had been dead a year - he died in 2023; that she makes $180,000 - she makes $195,200; that the illegal contributions came to tens of thousands - about $200,000 of the debt is refunds to donors who gave too much; and that it had been two years - it’s been three.

Update, September 28th, 2026: A couple of lines now say why the business donations were illegal - a campaign can keep money from an LLC only if it says which person the money came from, and hers mostly didn’t.