- Some of the biggest spikes in Trump’s fundraising occurred during his court appearances
- His Save America PAC ended the year with just $5 million on hand as it pays the former president’s lawyers fighting his legal battle
- Trump raised a whopping $4.2 million the day after his mugshot was released
- Another $3.9 million was raised by the Trump campaign surrounding the New York City appearance in the Stormy Daniels ‘hush money’ case
Former President Donald Trump’s legal troubles, which cost him nearly $50 million in legal fees, also led to huge spikes in fundraising for his campaign.
Trump’s campaign and political committees spent nearly $50 million on his legal bills as the 2024 Republican Party presidential frontrunner fights 91 felony charges in multiple cases across the country.
The Save America PAC, the main vehicle for paying the former president’s legal bills through donor funds last year, ended the year with just $5 million despite raising more than $52 million.
Despite the ongoing legal drama following him as the 2024 race heats up, his supporters appear encouraged to help him. Some of Trump’s best fundraising days in 2023 followed legal actions against him.
When Trump was imprisoned in Georgia’s Fulton County Jail last August on election fraud charges, Trump’s campaign profited from his mugshot image to the tune of more than $4 million.
They spread his glowing image across campaign merchandise, including t-shirts, mugs, beer koozies and more.
Former President Trump was photographed for a police mugshot after his arrest on August 24 at the Fulton County Jail in Georgia. His campaign used the image throughout the campaign.
Republican presidential candidate Trump, who won the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries, is holding a campaign rally ahead of the Republican caucus in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Within 24 hours of his booking, his campaign coffers began filling with cash.
A report from WinRed, the Republicans’ online fundraising platform, confirmed Wednesday that Trump had raised as much as $4.2 million the day after his mugshot was released.
Another of the biggest spikes in Trump’s fundraising came when Trump made his first appearance last April in a New York district court, where he is being charged over alleged hush money payments to Stormy Daniels.
He raised more than $3.9 million for the New York City performance.
Trump has also been charged with mishandling classified documents found at his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
A DailyMail.com/JL Partners poll found that more than half of Americans believe it is right that he was charged in the Mar-a-Lago secret documents case.
But surprisingly, most also believe the case was politically motivated.
That poll came after Trump appeared at a Miami courthouse last June, where he pleaded not guilty to 37 charges of refusing to turn over classified documents.
And it was another opportunity for the Trump campaign to raise money.
A new poll for DailyMail.com found that 54 percent of voters thought it was right for Trump to be charged in federal court over the documents investigation
But even as the former president plowed through the Republican Party’s primaries with landslide wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, he will face a financial disadvantage compared to President Biden.
Biden outpaced Trump by double digits in the final quarter of 2023, as Trump was bogged down by legal issues. Biden stood up $33 million in the last three months of the year, more than Trump’s $19 million.
The former president also saw a decline in fundraising from earlier last year, when he raised $25 million in the third quarter.
The latest filings showed Biden had a war chest of $117 million heading into the election year.