Donald Trump forgives $47M in primary campaign loans

WASHINGTON, July 21 (UPI) -- Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has officially forgiven about $47 million in loans to his campaign, according to a monthly filing with the Federal Elections Commission.

Trump's campaign finance chair, Steve Mnuchin, said last month that the candidate planned to forgive the loans he made to the campaign during the primary and shortly after clinching the nomination in mid-May.

However, in the campaign's June filing, the campaign still listed those millions as loans, leaving open the legal door that Trump could later repay himself by using future donations. {link: Those loans: "http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/21/politics/donald-trump-fec-report-forgiving-loans/" target="_blank"} have now been reclassified as donations, meaning Trump cannot lay claim to any future campaign funds to pay himself back.

According to FEC filings, Trump had loaned more than $47 million through May and another $2 million in June.

According to NBC News, Trump is now the second-largest self-funding candidate in American history. Independent third-party candidate Ross Perot spent $63 million of his own money in 1992, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney loaned his 2008 presidential campaign $45 million, good for third place. Businessman Steve Forbes spent $37 million on his Republican primary candidacy in 1996.