NOTE: This was reported back in 2016 and vehemently denied at the time. Surprise! It was the truth.
Donald Trump’s top 2016 aide previously denied the campaign had paid actors to appear at the future president’s big campaign-launch announcement at Trump Tower, but that same official recently told Insider that people were indeed hired to show up.
Trump kicked off his candidacy at his New York City skyscraper in a speech on June 16, 2015, appearing before a large crowd of what seemed to be his supporters. The event immediately prompted speculation about how Trump managed to draw a sizable group of people.
“I remember thinking, ‘Man, I’m surprised he couldn’t even get people there. That seems insane,'” Sarah Isgur, the deputy campaign manager for 2016 presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, told Insider as part of an oral history project chronicling one of the most unorthodox GOP primaries the country has ever seen.