Did Trump hire actors to support him at his campaign announcement? The Atlantic reported in 2015 that Trump hired actors to support him in a campaign announcement: > Donald Trump's presidential campaign announcement last month was widely mocked, not only for the rambling diatribe he used to launch the campaign but for the actors he paid $50 apiece to cheer for it. The Washington Post concurred: > Trump's announcement, held on the lower level of the Trump Tower lobby, was framed by cheering crowds watching from the floors above. Some of the members of that crowd, it was soon reported, were apparently paid to be there. Is this true?

According to a Federal Election Commission document:

> We believe that the service at issue here — assembling a crowd of attendees for a candidacy announcement — provided a benefit to the Trump campaign [footnote 23]. It is not uncommon for campaigns to hire companies or casting agencies like Extra Mile to generate a crowd at an event. In this matter, the available information indicates that the Committee retained Gotham as an event consultant, and Gotham, in turn, subcontracted with Extra Mile to provide extra administrative support at Trump's announcement, including the provision of at least some of the rally crowd [footnote 24].

So, reviewing the evidence, the General Counsel of the Federal Election Commission considers that the claim is true.