Trump campaign touts $141M raised in May, boosted by guilty verdict

The Trump campaign announced Monday it raised $141 million in May alongside the Republican National Committee (RNC), a staggering total buoyed in part by a surge in donations after the former president was found guilty on 34 felony counts in New York.

The campaign and RNC received more than 2 million donations for the month, and 25 percent of those who gave were first-time donors.

On top of the $141 million haul for the campaign, other organizations supporting Trump brought in roughly $150 million, Trump officials said.

“We are moved by the outpouring of support for President Donald J. Trump,” Trump campaign senior advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement.

“President Trump raised $141 million this month 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,” the two added.

More one-third of Trump’s fundraising total for May — $53 million — came via online donations in the 24 hours after a jury found him guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records during his 2016 campaign to conceal alleged affairs.

The massive total is likely to close the cash gap between the Trump campaign and the Biden campaign, which has yet to report its May fundraising numbers.

President Biden’s campaign raised $51 million in April and had $192 million on hand. Trump’s campaign outraised Biden’s in April, but it still was millions of dollars behind in terms of cash on hand.

The Biden campaign had its best fundraising hours to date following Trump’s guilty verdict, a source familiar with the matter said.

Trump campaign officials have downplayed the Biden campaign’s cash advantage, asserting that the former president and his team will have the resources required to win in November.

Biden campaign officials, meanwhile, have argued their operation has spent money on staff and resources in key battleground states likely to determine the outcome in November, while Trump’s campaign has yet to build out its staff in swing states and the former president has burned through money on legal fees.

“We’ll see how the numbers actually shake out come July, but one thing’s for certain: Trump’s billionaire friends are propping up the campaign of a white collar crook because they know the deal – they cut him checks and he cuts their taxes while working people and the middle class pay the tab,” Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement.

Updated at 5:42 p.m. EDT