Trump campaign says it raised $34.8 million after guilty verdict in fundraising blitz

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican Party raised $34.8 million in the six hours after Trump was convicted of 34 criminal charges in its judgment of “silence,” the campaign said Friday, an astonishing total that represents nearly half of what it raised during the entire month of April.

The campaign said Thursday’s sum came mostly from small-dollar donors, including 30% who were new contributors to WinRed, the Republican Party’s fundraising platform. Fundraising totals cannot be verified until the campaign’s reports to the Federal Election Commission are released next month.

A CBS News analysis of Trump’s campaign fundraising through April found that he received an influx of donations following key moments in his legal battles. Before his conviction on Thursday, FEC records show that Trump’s two best fundraising days were April 4, 2023, when he was sued in New York City, and August 25, 2023, a day after his photo was released in his separate criminal case in Georgia. .

Trump’s fundraising also increased when he was indicted by federal grand juries in Florida in June 2023 and in Washington, D.C., in August 2023. He also saw a hitch when a different judge in New York ordered him pay $454 million in fines and interest in his civil fraud case in February.

Between his conviction in the hush money case and Friday afternoon, Trump’s team spent at least $94,900 on Facebook and Instagram ads — more than double what the campaign spent in the week leading up to the trial’s conclusion. , according to data from Meta. Ad library. The ads portray Trump as a “political prisoner” and say Thursday was a “dark day in America.”

“I WAS JUST CONVICTED IN A FAKE TRIAL,” many of the ads begin. trump criticized the trial as “rigged” and called the allegations a “hoax” in comments at Trump Tower on Friday.

The ads direct users to WinRed, a Republican fundraising site that crashed minutes after the verdict. The campaign said the technical failure was caused by increased traffic on the website.

The Trump campaign and the Republican Party raised around US$76 million in April, surpassing the monthly total raised by President Biden and the Democratic Party for the first time this election cycle. FEC records show Democrats have more cash on hand, but an influx of donations after his conviction could help Trump catch up.

Trump’s announcements following the verdict echo the theme of his rhetoric throughout the trial: that the charges against him were part of a politically motivated effort by Democrats to weaken his campaign. One of his most-viewed ads before his conviction repeated the falsehood that the trial was led by the Biden administration, when in fact it was a state case prosecuted by the Manhattan district attorney.

Trump also rallied supporters by calling himself the victim of a political “witch hunt,” a phrase he used in at least 382 posts on his Truth Social platform and in numerous social media ads.

Trump is now doubling down on the narrative, urging those who visit his WinRed donation page to “NEVER SURRENDER” under a photo of the photo that previously helped him raise millions.

For its part, Biden’s campaign said Trump is “disturbed” and “consumed by his own thirst for revenge and retribution” following his comments on Friday.

The president himself addressed the verdict for the first time later in the day, saying at the White House that the verdict reaffirmed the “American principle that no one is above the law.”