One of the top vendors to Donald Trump's campaign is a company that formed in Delaware at the end of April. (John Gurzinski/AFP/Getty Images)
On April 25, a new company called Left Hand Enterprises LLC was formed in Delaware, listing its address at an incorporation service provider in Wilmington.
A few days later, the firm received two big payments totaling $503,133 from Donald Trump's presidential campaign to print and send a major shipment of direct mail. The campaign cut another $227,504 check to Left Hand Enterprises on May 2, new campaign finance filings show.
The rapid series of payments — $730,637 over five days — made Left Hand the 10th biggest vendor to the Trump campaign for the entire election cycle. But why it was hired, and what work it provided, remains a mystery even to some top Trump aides.
The campaign's use of the mysterious pop-up firm has surfaced at a time of financial tumult for the Trump operation, which began June low on funds and has come under scrutiny for making large reimbursements to his companies.
Left Hand was hired at a time when the campaign had two separate budgets: one for headquarters and travel expenses approved by then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and another for state operations overseen by campaign chairman Paul Manafort, according to people familiar with the internal workings. The invoices for Left Hand went through the budget controlled by Manafort, a person with knowledge of the situation said.
Neither Manafort nor Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks responded to repeated questions about Left Hand.
On Federal Election Commission reports, the company lists its address as a single-family home on a seven-acre lot in Purcellville, Va., about 54 miles outside of Washington. According to public records, the home is owned by Florence Dougherty. Her husband, Harry Dougherty, works as director of finance at The Lukens Company, an Arlington-based direct mail fundraising firm, according to his LinkedIn page. However, The Lukens Company does not currently list him as an employee on its website. The Doughertys did not return calls seeking comment.
The Lukens Company was founded by Walter Lukens, a veteran direct mail strategist who worked as an adviser to Sen. Bob Dole's 1988 presidential campaign and was involved in his later campaigns, according to his online bio. Manafort ran Dole's convention operations in his 1996 White House race. Lukens did not respond to questions about Dougherty or whether he is involved with Left Hand.
Direct mail experts said that it is unlikely a newly formed company registered to someone's private home would have the equipment to print thousands of campaign leaflets. Most likely, they said, is that Left Hand functioned as a pass-through for an established firm.
The first two payments to Left Hand were made on April 28 and April 29 — just days before the crucial May 3 Indiana primary, where Sen. Ted Cruz made his last unsuccessful stand against Trump. Since direct mail firms usually require payment before sending out a shipment, Left Hand would have had very little time to get leaflets to mailboxes in Indiana before voters went to the polls, according to people who work in the industry.
Republican activists in Indiana do recall receiving a mail piece from the Trump campaign around April 26, pictured below.
But that mailer was sent by another vendor, WizBang Solutions, according to the bulk mail permit identification under the postage, which reads "WBS." Mike Ciletti, who serves as director of WizBang, previously worked with Lewandowski when the latter was a top official at the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, and his company has been one of the campaign's major vendors.
The Trump campaign's most recent payment to Left Hand came May 2, the day before Cruz dropped out, and eight days before the Nebraska primary. At nearly $230,000, it was one of the campaign's biggest expenditures in May, when Trump spent $6.7 million and brought in just $5.4 million.
Several of the campaign's May expenditures have attracted scrutiny, including more than $1.1 million that went to reimburse Trump properties and Trump and his family members for expenses.
Another transaction last month that has garnered attention is a $35,000 payment to a company called Draper Sterling for web advertising; the company's name appears to be a play on character names from the "Mad Men" television show. The company is registered to a Londonderry, N.H., resident named Jon Adkins, who co-founded a biotech company XenoTherapeutics with Paul Holzer. The Trump campaign paid Adkins and Holzer $3,000 each for field consulting in May.
Alice Crites and Anu Narayanswamy contributed to this report.