Trump campaign raises $34.8m in donations following guilty verdict

Former president Donald Trump’s campaign announced that it had raised $34.8million in the wake of a jury finding him guilty on 34 criminal charges this week.

The Trump campaign touted the numbers in a statement on Friday, a day after a jury in Manhattan found the former president guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of a conspiracy to corruptly influence the results of the 2016 election.

The campaign said that 29.7 per cent were new donors to “WinRed”, the Republicans’ preferred site for fundraising.

“From just minutes after the sham trial verdict was announced, our digital fundraising system was overwhelmed with support, and despite temporary delays online because of the amount of traffic, President Trump raised $34.8 million dollars from small dollar donors,” senior advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said more than 485,000 people contributed to Trump’s campaign.

“The American people stand behind President Trump in the face of this unprecedented weaponization of the judicial system and we are laser-focused on investing these resources to get out the vote, protect the ballot, and re-elect President Donald J. Trump,” he said.

Trump and the GOP reported raising more than $65.6m in March and closed out that month with $93.1m in cash-on-hand, according to the Associated Press.

Then in April, Trump raised $50.5m from a fundraiser for wealthy donors in Palm Beach at the home of billionaire investor John Paulson, Reuters reported.That month, the Biden campaign raised $51m overall - short of the total $76m pulled in by Trump and the Republican party.

In March, at a New York event with former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, the Biden campaign reported raising $26 million. Next month, Biden’s campaign is planning a major Hollywood fundraiser featuring A-list stars George Clooney and Julia Roberts.

Biden’s reelection campaign said it had $192m in cash-on-hand as of the end of April, which it said was higher than any Democratic candidate in history, AP reported.