Donald Trump’s campaign and joint fundraising committee have raised a total of $18.8 million in the first quarter of 2023, according to the former president’s campaign. This total was boosted by a spike in donations after Trump’s indictment by a Manhattan grand jury on March 30. The campaign told CNN that it had raised $15.4 million in the two weeks after charges were filed against Trump, indicating a surge in support for the former president amongst his supporters. The campaign argued that these figures suggest that Trump’s legal troubles have benefited him both politically and financially in the short term.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony criminal charges of falsifying business records, and the donations have come from a total of 541,971 donations with the average being $34. Comparatively, in the two weeks after charges were filed against Trump, he received 312,564 donations with an average of roughly $49 per donation. Before his indictment, Trump raised approximately $168,000 per day between January 1 and March 30. It is unclear whether the surge in donations that followed his indictment will continue into the second quarter of 2023.
In total, the Trump campaign spent $3.5 million in the first quarter and had $13.9 million in cash on hand as of March 31. More than $727,000 of the campaign’s spending went towards payroll, while just over $488,000 went to TAG Air Inc, which is the Trump-owned company that operates his airplanes. The $18.8 million total falls behind the $30 million Trump raised during the first quarter of the 2020 election cycle, when he was still in office.
Other Republican candidates have also raised significant amounts of money, including Nikki Haley, who raised $8.3 million across three committees connected to her campaign, and Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who has more than $85 million remaining in his state-level fundraising committee. This money could potentially be transferred to another committee backing his candidacy. Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who declared his bid for the GOP nomination in February, loaned his campaign $10.25 million and raised about $1.2 million from contributors through March 31. He had nearly $9.4 million in cash on hand at the end of the quarter, according to his FEC filing.
Donald Trump’s personal financial disclosure report was filed with the Federal Election Commission on Friday. The 101-page report offered the public a first look at his post-presidential finances, including his social media business venture and last year’s sale of digital trading cards known as NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. Details on Trump’s fundraising after the first quarter ended on March 31 will not be disclosed to regulators for several months.
