© Reuters. Former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he attends his first campaign rally after announcing his candidacy for president in the 2024 election at an event in Waco, Texas, U.S. March 25 2023. REUTERS/Go Nakamura
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By Jason Lange
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s presidential campaign on Saturday reported raising $14.5 million in the first three months of this year, with contributions accelerating sharply after he announced he was on the point of being charged.
Disclosure to the Federal Election Commission does not cover all of the former president’s political fundraising or disclose all details for online donors.
But the record shows at least $2.7 million was raised from individual donors in the two weeks after March 18, when he announced that a Manhattan grand jury was set to adjudicate. charge after an investigation into silent money Trump allegedly paid a mistress ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
In the previous two weeks, the disclosure shows the campaign raised just over $1 million from individual donors.
Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, has denied having sex with the woman at the center of the investigation and calls the investigation a witch hunt by his political enemies. His indictment on March 30 made him the first former US president to face criminal charges.
This boosted his supporters and his campaign finances.
The campaign said it had spent $3.5 million through March, nearly half of that on its campaign payroll and travel expenses. At least $7,000 was spent on Trump-owned golf clubs and resorts in South Florida.
Eight in 10 Republicans consider the case against Trump to be politically motivated, and his lead over other Republican presidential candidates has grown since his indictment, according to a Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll found this month.
Still, Trump hasn’t sewn up the race for the money for the Republican nomination, and some experts say his legal woes, which include other potentially more serious investigations, could cause Republicans tired of the drama around him to look for another presidential candidate.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to announce a presidential candidacy soon, said he had about $85 million in a political fundraising account at the end of March.
To counter the perceived threat from DeSantis, the Make America Great Again Inc Super PAC, which has received at least $60 million in funding from one of Trump’s policy committees, told regulators on Saturday it plans to spend $1 $.5 million in TV commercials against DeSantis.
