Trump campaign raises $141m in May to close funding gap to Biden

Donald Trump significantly outraised President Joe Biden in May, despite becoming the first US president to be convicted of a crime.

Trump’s campaign and the Republic National Committee (RNC) reported that they raised a massive $141m in May. However, they declined to report how much money the campaign had left in their funds at the end of the month, which they are not legally required to report until July.

The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised $85m in May, with $212m sitting in the campaign’s bank at the end of the month, federal filings released on Thursday detailed. Reports suggest Trump has upwards of $170m. Trump was $100m behind Mr. Biden at the start of April.

Filings show the Trump campaign had $116.5m cash on hand – not committed elsewhere – at the start of June, compared to $91.6m for the Biden campaign.

The Biden fundraising number does not include recent fundraising efforts in June, such as the around $40m raised recently or the $20m donation from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to pro-Biden groups, according to the Associated Press.

Biden’s campaign has been helped by a glitzy, star-studded fundraiser in Hollywood last Saturday that cleaned up a reported $30m. The event included appearances from former president Barack Obama and actors Julia Roberts and George Clooney.

Trump, who was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the historical hush money trial last month, has not let his criminal conviction stop him from raking in millions of donations in his bid for the presidency. The former president’s campaign reported they raised nearly $53m within the space of 24 hours after the jury in Manhattan handed over the guilty verdict in connection to the hush money offences.

Billionaire Timothy Mellon donated $50m to a pro-Trump super PAC the day after Trump was found guilty, the filings say.

Julie Chavez Rodriguez, a Biden campaign manager, told the AP that their efforts are a “stark contrast to Trump’s PR stunts and photo ops that he’s pretending is a campaign”.

“Our strong and consistent fundraising programme grew by millions of people in May, a clear sign of strong and growing enthusiasm for the president and vice president every single month,” she said.

“The money we continue to raise matters, and it’s helping the campaign build out an operation that invests in reaching and winning the voters who will decide this election,” she added.

May’s fundraising was the president’s second-best month this cycle, just behind March, according to CNBC.

However, it was the second month in a row that Trump had outraised Biden – the Trump team brought in $25m more in April – as the former president continues to close the gap in total fundraising for the presidential campaign trail.

Meanwhile, the pro-Trump super PAC called MAGA Inc, significantly helped by Mellon’s giant donation, has put aside $3.5m for television advertising set to begin on 3 July across Georgia and Pennsylvania, according to AdImpact, a media tracking firm.

The group reported that it received $68.8m in May, ending the month with $93.7m in its account.

In contrast, independent candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr is seriously lagging. The filings revealed his campaign took just $2.6m by the end of May.