Trump's campaign said that it raised $50.5M at event
NEW YORK » Donald Trump's campaign said it raised $50.5 million on Saturday, a staggering reported haul as his campaign works to catch up to the fundraising juggernaut of President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.
The reported haul from the event with major donors at the Palm Beach, Florida, home of billionaire investor John Paulson sets a new single-event fundraising record and is almost double the $26 million that Biden's campaign said it raised recently at a gathering with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama at Radio City Music Hall in New York.
“It's clearer than ever that we have the message, the operation and the money to propel President Trump to victory on Nov. 5,” his campaign senior advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement.
The event, billed as the “Inaugural Leadership Dinner,” sends a signal of a resurgence of Trump and the Republican Party's fundraising, which has lagged behind Biden and the Democrats.
“This has been some incredible evening before it even starts because people — they wanted to contribute to a cause of making America great again, and that's what's happened,” Trump said briefly to reporters as he arrived at the event with his wife, Melania Trump.
Trump and the GOP announced earlier in the week that they raised more than $65.6 million in March and closed out the month with $93.1 million.
Biden and the Democrats announced Saturday that they took in more than $90 million last month and had $192 million-plus on hand.
“While Donald Trump has been busy awarding himself golf trophies at Mar-a-Lago and palling around with billionaires, Joe Biden has been crisscrossing the nation connecting with voters and outlining his vision to grow our economy from the bottom up and the middle out,” Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement, referring to Trump's Florida residence.
Campaign fundraising reports filed with the Federal Election Commission detailing donations from Saturday's event are not expected until a mid-July filing date.
Trump initially struggled to attract big donors in particular when he launched his campaign and some lined up to support the other Republicans who challenged him in the presidential primary.
Saturday's high-dollar event hosted about 100 guests, including more than a few billionaires. Contributions to the event will go toward the Trump 47 Committee, according to the invitation, a joint fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee, state Republican parties and Save America, a political action committee that pays the bulk of Trump's legal bills. In an unusual arrangement, the fundraising agreement directs donations to first pay the maximum allowed under law to his campaign and Save America before the RNC or state parties get a cut.