Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump smiles during a campaign rally in Windham, New Hampshire, August 8, 2023.
Reba Saldanha | Reuters
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee announced Monday that the two entities raised a combined $141 million in May.
The massive haul would represent a major change in fortune for Trump after his campaign struggled to keep pace with President Joe Biden’s fundraising during part of the election. Trump and the RNC had reported bringing in just over $76 million in April, and Biden’s political operation reported raising about $51 million for that month.
Trump was convicted Thursday of 34 counts of falsifying business records in an attempt to conceal a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. The Trump campaign said it raised $34.8 million in less than seven hours after the New York jury’s verdict was announced.
Team Trump also reported raising a total of $52.8 million in the 24 hours after the trial ended. The Trump campaign said that represented just over 37% of their May harvest. Most of the Republican Party’s biggest donors ignored the guilty verdict and decided to support Trump.
Venture capitalist and longtime Republican donor Doug Leone announced Monday that he too would support Trump, even though he denounced him after the January 6, 2021 riots at the Capitol.
“I am increasingly concerned about the overall direction of our country, the state of our failing immigration system, the growing deficit, and foreign policy missteps, among other issues. That’s why I support former President Trump in the upcoming election,” Leone said in a post on X. He did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Since Trump’s trial ended, the former president has continued to deny the allegations against him and has used the verdict to try to raise more money for his campaign.
His team called the lawsuit a fundraising boom and said donors want Trump’s policies reinstated.
“President Trump raised $141 million this month (May) because Americans remember the booming economy, secure borders, and peace through strength at home and abroad under Donald J. Trump, and we will return to prosperity and success when he is re-elected in November,” Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, senior advisers to the Trump campaign, said in a statement.
If the Trump camp’s numbers are accurate, it would also suggest that the former president may have caught up to Biden in the fundraising game.
Biden has not announced his fundraising total for May, and it is impossible to verify the claim that Trump’s team raised $141 million at this time because the latest records campaign finance figures will not be made public until later in June.
Trump’s campaign has raised $120 million so far in the 2024 election cycle, while Biden’s has brought in $195 million, according to OpenSecrets data.
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