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 together raised $141 million in May.
The massive haul would represent a major shift in fortune for Trump after his campaign has struggled to keep up with President Joe Biden’s fundraising for parts of the election. Trump and the RNC had said that in April they brought in just over $76 million, and Biden’s political operation announced it raised around $51 million for that month.
Trump was convicted Thursday on 34 counts of falsifying business records in an effort to cover up 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.
The Trump team also said it raised a total of $52.8 million in the 24 hours after the trial concluded. The Trump campaign said that accounts for just over 37% of their May haul. Most of the Republican Party’s biggest donors have shrugged off the guilty verdict and moved to back Trump.
Venture capitalist and longtime Republican donor Doug Leone announced Monday that he too was going to support Trump, even though he denounced him after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on Capitol Hill.
“I have become increasingly concerned about the general direction of our country, the state of our broken immigration system, the ballooning deficit, and the foreign policy missteps, among other issues. Therefore, I am supporting former President Trump in this coming 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 brought against him and used the verdict to try to raise more campaign cash.
His team pointed to the trial as a fundraising boom and said donors want Trump’s policies back in place.
“President Trump raised $141 million this month [May] because Americans remember the roaring economy, secure border, 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,” said Trump campaign senior advisors Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita in a statement.
If the Trump camp’s figures are accurate, it would also suggest that the former president may have caught up with Biden in the fundraising game.
Biden has not announced his fundraising totals for May, and it’s impossible to verify yet the claim that Trump’s team raised $141 million because the latest campaign finance records won’t be made public until later in June.
Trump’s campaign has raised $120 million in the 2024 election cycle so far, while Biden’s campaign has brought in $195 million, according to data from OpenSecrets.