Campaign

Trump campaign says it raised $10 million around Tulsa rally

President Trump’s reelection campaign says it raised $10 million from online donors last weekend around the president’s rally in Tulsa, Okla.

The Trump campaign has been on defense after the disappointing rally, which drew about 6,500 people indoors to the BOK Center in Tulsa, a less-than full capacity crowd.

Pictures circulated online of empty seats in the top level of the arena. The president canceled remarks he had planned to give to an expected overflow crowd outdoors.

The campaign has touted cable news ratings for the rally. Fox News had its best Saturday night ever during the hours that Trump spoke.

The rally had been billed as Trump’s big return to the campaign trail after he spent most of the past few months locked down in Washington due to the coronavirus. The president blamed protesters and the media for scaring people away from the event.

The White House denies that Trump was disappointed by the turnout.

The Trump campaign compared its weekend haul to a fundraiser on Tuesday for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who was joined at a virtual event by former President Obama.

Biden announced that 175,000 people donated to the fundraiser, which brought in $7.6 million.

The Biden campaign and Democratic National Committee outraised the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee for the first time in May.

The Democrats brought in $81 million, compared to $74 million for the Republicans.

However, Trump and the RNC have a huge fundraising advantage this cycle, having begun the month of May with about a $187 million advantage, according to a New York Times analysis.