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So maybe Trump’s campaign isn’t so poor after all.
Following the release of May FEC filings that revealed the campaign only had $1.3 million in the bank, or 40 times less than Hillary Clinton, CNN has reported that Trump and his joint RNC fundraising committee say they have raised at least $11 million since Tuesday morning.
The sudden windfall seems to be in response to a fundraising pitch, one of the very first sent out by the campaign since Trump became the party’s presumptive nominee.
The $11 million mark does not include the $2 million Trump pledged to match in contributions, and exceeds the $3 million number that Trump’s son reported in a email sent Wednesday to campaign supporters.
Yesterday my father sent his first ever fundraising email for the campaign and predicted it would shatter fundraising records. Yesterday's email was a massive success. My father offered to match up to $2 million personally, $1 for every $1 donated, and in less than 12 hours we surpassed that goal. All because of supporters like you.
As reflected in the email, the Trump campaign appears to be insinuating that Trump hadn’t begun fundraising in earnest when the FEC filings were compiled. The CNN report corroborates this, noting that Trump has done "virtually no small-dollar fundraising" since launching his campaign a year ago.
In addition, it’s also quite possible that news of the campaign’s financial woes earlier this week worked to galvanize donors.
Whatever their cause, there’s no doubt these latest numbers will do quite a bit to ease top Republicans’ worries about Trump’s ability to fundraise.
