Donald Trump's Fundraising Plummets

Donald Trump's presidential campaign raised more than $19 million in the final quarter of 2023, a fall of more than 20 percent compared with the previous quarter, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

Trump's official presidential 2024 campaign reported that it received $19 million between October and December, and ended the year with more than $33 million in available cash, FEC filings show.

This haul is down from the $24.5 million that the Trump campaign reported receiving in the third quarter, which includes July, August and September.

The latest fundraising figure from the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential candidate is also lower that that of President Joe Biden's campaign, which reported receiving $33 million in the fourth quarter and has around $46 million in cash heading into the election year.

Donald Trump in Nevada
Donald Trump at a campaign event in Las Vegas on January 27, 2024. Trump's election campaign reported raising $19 million during the final quarter of 2023. Getty Images/David Becker

Trump was able to outraise Nikki Haley, his only serious rival left in the GOP primary, in the latest quarter. Haley, who has vowed to stay in the race despite losing both the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire primary to Trump, reported raising $17 million in the fourth quarter.

Trump's latest filings also show that the former president had spent tens of millions of dollars on legal fees in the second half of the year via his various political action committees.

The Save America PAC and Make America Great Again PAC spent more than $29 million of legal fees in the final six months of 2023.

The two groups also spent about $21 million on legal fees in the first half of 2023, bringing the total amount of donor money on legal expenses last year to around $50 million.

Trump's office has been contacted for comment via email.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to a total of 91 felony charges after getting indicted in four separate criminal offenses in 2023. Trump has denied all wrongdoing and accused the death inquiry of being a politically motivated "witch hunt" against him.

Trump was recently ordered by a jury to pay writer E. Jean Carroll more than $83 million in damages for defaming her while denying that he sexually assaulted her.

The former president could also soon face a fine totaling hundreds of millions of dollars as part of the fraud lawsuit filed against him by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Trump has not explicitly stated that he would not use campaign funds to help pay the penalties handed to him in the civil cases.

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About the writer


Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more

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