Meet the Woman Behind President Trump’s Swag Empire

Christl Mahfouz's company is Trump's official merchandise distributor.

June 26, 2017 5:00 am

Meet 39-year-old Christl Mahfouz. She’s the owner of Lafayette, Louisiana–based Ace Specialties, Inc., the official merchandise distributor of the never-ending Trump campaign—the countrywide tour that features, among other things, a sea of cheering supporters wearing those red “Make America Great Again” hats.

Yes, those are her company’s doing; she told Bloomberg that the 1,000,000th hat recently shipped.

According to the business publication, Mahfouz and her company have been going strong since August 2015, and they’ve raked in over $21 million. (She gets an undisclosed fee for her services, as well as a reimbursement for shipping and handling costs.)

Ace’s online sales have led to a database of potential future Trump donors, and it’s part of how a candidate could potentially win reelection.

Right before her big breakthrough moment, Mahfouz tells Bloomberg her business was nosediving. Then she prayed, and said Trump answered her prayers. She had to pitch him her wares at Trump Tower, but he signed off on it, and ever since then, has been selling everything from those MAGA hats to decals, yard signs, and Christmas ornaments.

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