Donald Trump Campaign Paid Actors $50 To Cheer On His Announcement

– Donald Trump Campaign Paid Actors $50 To Cheer On His Announcement (CBS, June 17, 2017):

The Hollywood Reporter says Donald Trump’s campaign paid actors $50 to cheer at his presidential announcement press conference Tuesday.

The casting notice, obtained by the Reporter, asked actors to wear T-shirts and hold signs for a “big announcement.”

The pay was listed as $50 for fewer than three hours of work.

According to the email, Extra Mile Casting (in partnership with Gotham Government Relations and Communications, a New York-Based political consulting group that has worked with Trump in the past) was looking for actors “to help cheer him.”

Gotham GR had no comment when reached by the Reporter.

The newspaper reported that there were suspicions the event hired actors when the event had hired extras when anti-Trump activist Angelo Carusone (he writes for Media Matters) came across an Instagram photo, showing a man he recognized as a background actor wearing a pro-Trump t-shirt at the event.

On his own blog, Carusone (who candidly admits he is no Trump fan), wrote that something seemed odd about the cheering throng. “Something was off. And, then I stumbled across a photo posted on Instagram.”

According to the Reporter, “Carusone screengrabbed the photo of the actor, Domenico Del Giacco, and published it in a blog post. Del Giacco has since deleted the account. The photo shows him with a woman, identified in the now-deleted Instagram post as actress Courtney Klotz.”

Carusone added, “Paid actors can support presidential candidates, too. No big. I persisted in my incredulity at the thought that Trump might actually pay actors to attend his campaign launch.”

Asked by Hollywood Reporter if Trump or his campaign paid anyone to attend the event, campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said, “No,” and that he had never heard of Extra Mile or Gotham GR.

The Hollywood Reporter in their story also showed a copy of the casting email.