Frist Paid off $72,000 Debt on Campaign 2 months after stock sale

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http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBTPGHG0FE.html

Frist Personally Paid off $72,000 Debt on Campaign, Records Show

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist paid $72,012 from his own pocket to his 2000 re-election campaign fund in August, two months after he was notified that trustees had sold millions of dollars of his stock in HCA Inc., the hospital chain founded by his father and brother.

That Aug. 30 payment was disclosed in Federal Election Commission filings last Friday. The documents also show the campaign fund on the same day paid off a $349,107 outstanding loan from U.S. Bank Corp.

Both transactions enabled the Tennessee Republican to close the Senate campaign fund in anticipation of his retirement from the Senate next year and a possible run for the White House in 2008.

Frist has come under scrutiny from federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission following the sale of his HCA stock. The sales were completed by July 1, near the stock's 52-week peak and two weeks before share prices fell 9 percent.