After the verdict, Trump’s fundraising may dwindle, giving Biden a financial edge

Silence is speaking volumes regarding President Joe Biden’s fundraising numbers after former President Donald Trump‘s conviction in his New York hush money trial.

Biden had outraised Trump before his predecessor started making up ground in April, post-primary. But despite Trump’s legal costs, Biden’s cash on hand advantage could be gone.

Trump’s conviction has “greatly motivated” the former president’s base, and “donors are definitionally a key part of that base,” according to Dan Schnur, communications director of Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain‘s 2000 presidential campaign.

“So there’s no surprise that his fundraising numbers have skyrocketed,” Schnur, now a University of Southern California professor, told the Washington Examiner. “There’s no way to guess yet whether the Trump campaign can also use the trial to reach undecided voters, but all that extra money certainly does not hurt.”

The Trump campaign claims the former president and Republican National Committee raised $141 million last month, including $53 million during the first 24 hours after last week’s conviction.

“The American people saw right through Crooked Joe Biden’s rigged trial, and sent Biden and Democrats a powerful message — the REAL verdict will come on November 5th,” Trump campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles wrote in a statement.

“Based on these record contribution numbers, and polling, it didn’t work because voters understand the clear contrast between Donald J. Trump’s record of success, and Joe Biden’s failures,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley and Co-Chairwoman Lara Trump added separately.

Concerning for the Biden campaign, its Trump counterpart says 25% of its May donors were first-time contributors, whom they can ask for more money in the future. That is on top of billionaires who had not expressed their support for him until recently, including the widow of Las Vegas Sands founder Sheldon Adelson, Miriam, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, and investor Nelson Peltz.

In comparison, the Biden campaign has remained mum on the president’s numbers before the next Federal Election Commission deadline this month after previously spinning his edge before a cycle expected to cost billions of dollars in ads and grassroots organizing amid a lack of enthusiasm for both candidates.

“We’ll see how the numbers actually shake out come July, but one thing’s for certain: Trump’s billionaire friends are propping up the campaign of a white-collar crook because they know the deal — they cut him checks and he cuts their taxes while working people and the middle class pay the tab,” Biden campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa told the Washington Examiner.

A Biden campaign source familiar with the president’s fundraising dismissed concerns about his numbers. The person contended the 24 hours after Donald Trump’s conviction were also one of Biden’s best fundraising days since he launched his reelection bid last April, but they did not provide any data.

At the same time, it is estimated that Trump political action committees MAGA PAC and Save America have spent about $100 million so far on the former president’s legal cases. With Save America, a leadership committee, running out of money, Donald Trump reached a joint fundraising agreement with the RNC in March in which the RNC would prioritize providing funds to Save America over itself.

“Everybody has an option whenever they donate to our joint fundraising agreement to opt out of it,” Lara Trump told CNN last weekend when asked about donors paying for Donald Trump’s legal defense. “It is a very small percentage of the money that we take in. And so, I would have to say, we’ll wait and see what is necessary in the future. Obviously, this has been a very costly thing — not just for Donald Trump and his campaign but for America.”

Earlier this year, the Trump campaign committees disclosed to the FEC that they had raised $120.5 million as of April 30, with $49 million cash on hand and $719,000 in debts, according to political money tracker OpenSecrets. When taking into account outside Trump groups that have different disclosure deadlines, those numbers increased to $244 million raised and $107.5 million cash on hand as of May 21. Thirty-one percent of his donations came from contributions of less than $200.

In contrast, the Biden campaign had raised $195 million, with $84.5 million cash on hand, at the end of April, increasing to $306 million and $159 million, respectively, when outside organizations reported in May. Forty-six percent of his donations comprised small-donor contributions.

Before July, Biden could repeat some of the success he experienced with his star-studded fundraiser with former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton in New York in March. He has another blockbuster event on his books with Obama, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, in addition to actors George Clooney and Julia Roberts, in Los Angeles on June 15. But Biden’s record-breaking New York fundraiser only raised $26 million, overshadowed a week later by a gathering for Donald Trump organized by another billionaire hedge fund manager, John Paulson, in Palm Beach, Florida, that raised $50.5 million.

Regardless, former aide for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Aggressive Progressive podcast host Christopher Hahn projected optimism about Biden’s prospects before November.

“I’m not worried,” Hahn told the Washington Examiner. “[Donald Trump] squandered the opportunity to organize in swing states and has been closing outreach offices while diverting campaign funds to his personal legal issues. You can’t make up for that with more ads.”

“Biden needs to take a [page] out of the Bill Clinton playbook,” he said. “He needs to show the voters he feels their pain. While the U.S. economy avoided a recession and is doing better than any other on the planet, that’s little comfort to voters paying more for everyday items like groceries and young people struggling to buy a home. Biden must acknowledge the problem and assure voters it’s a top priority.”

Biden appeared to take Hahn’s advice during his first post-conviction fundraiser this week. There, he told donors in Greenwich, Connecticut, “We’ve made a lot of progress, and we can create even more progress, but we’ve got to keep it going.”

But Biden also criticized Donald Trump for his rhetoric post-conviction and about his other ongoing legal matters in comments underscored by the White House in excerpts. The former president has described the process writ-large as “rigged.”

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