Donald Trump 'Make America Great Again' Trademark Deal: Presidential Candidate Pays $100K For Official Rights To Slogan

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump finally owns his signature slogan, “Make America Great Again.” After radio host Bobby Estell, known as Bobby Bones, filed a trademark application for the phrase this summer, he said in August he would give the slogan to Trump for a price.

The radio host told gossip news site TMZ in August that he would give Trump the trademark if the New York businessman gave a donation of $100,000 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and met with him one-on-one. Estell tweeted Thursday that he and Trump had struck a deal.

The tweet included a photo of the signed check, but the dollar amount was whited out. Trump’s campaign confirmed to the Hill that it did send the radio host a check that would ultimately be donated to St. Jude and that they now own the registered trademark.

"We simply reimbursed him the money he had paid to try and register the trademark and allowed him to donate it to St. Jude's Hospital, for which Mr. Trump's son Eric has helped raise millions of dollars toward cancer research," Trump spokesperson Hope Hicks told the Hill Friday.

Trump has been selling hats and apparel with the “Make America Great Again” slogan for months and has spent a significant amount of his campaign funds on campaign merchandise emblazoned with his iconic phrase. The hats in particular have been in high demand and initially sold out in July not long after Trump announced his campaign.

The celebrity businessman is still the front-runner in the Republican primary race, according to the Real Clear Politics average of national polls, but in the most recent New York Times/CBS poll that was released Tuesday, retired neurosurgeon and fellow presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson pulled ahead to lead Trump 26 percent to 22 percent.