WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump is defending himself in court, blocking the Republican nomination and steering toward a rematch in the general election with increasingly cash-rich President Joe Biden. They are facing financial difficulties as they are trying to do so.
Campaign finance records filed Wednesday show that MAGA Inc., the main super PAC supporting the Trump campaign, spent more than it raised in the final six months of 2023 — primarily. He sent $30 million to Save America, the former president's primary means of disbursing large sums of money. Legal fees. Similarly, Trump's official campaign shed more cash than it took in in the last three months of the year.
This suggests that Mr. Trump's recent threats against black-ball Republican donors who don't donate to him are about more than mere loyalty. In other words, Trump also needs money.
By comparison, the Biden campaign took in $46 million in cash at the end of the year, far more than the Trump campaign's $33 million before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary. Future Forward, the main super PAC supporting Biden, had slightly more than MAGA in the bank at year-end, between $24 million and $23.3 million.
On Wednesday night, Democrats said Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were saving money for their campaigns rather than their legal battles.
“While Donald Trump is paying for his various expenses, Team Biden-Harris, backed by grassroots donors, is talking to the voters who will decide this election and building the election infrastructure to win in November. We are working hard to do so,” Biden campaign spokesman TJ Ducklo said in a statement.
Of course, Trump's legal troubles gave him a boost in the Republican primaries, with Biden accusing him without evidence of using the Justice Department to target him and undermine his campaign. and is rallying Republican voters to his cause.
President Trump is thus counting on the allegations he faces as a key part of his strategy to defeat Biden in November. They proved useful in raising funds and dispatching Republican opponents.
The day after President Trump's arrest in the Georgia election interference case in August, his mugshot was released, he was online, according to a fundraising report filed Wednesday by WinRed, the Republican Party's main online fundraising platform. It raised $4.2 million. This was the largest amount of money President Trump raised online in a single day last year.
Now, Mr. Trump is hoping his legal woes will energize his Republican base heading into the general election and help persuade persuasive voters to oust Mr. Biden.
Trump continues to be a master of micro-fundraising. While 18% of Mr. Biden's fourth-quarter income came from donors who gave the maximum amount to his campaign, much of Mr. Trump's cash came from donors who gave up to $6,600. It was only 6%.
This means President Trump is in a good position to go back to the well for more donations from donors who can still donate legally.
Spokespeople for Trump and MAGA did not respond to requests for comment on campaign finance filings Wednesday night.
Both candidates expanded their activities in the last quarter of the year, beginning the transition from earlier scale campaigns to stronger general election mechanisms. Trump had 78 people on his payroll, while Biden had 74, according to campaign disclosures.
Inside President Trump's numbers
MAGA Inc., which can legally receive unlimited donations as a super PAC, began July 1 with a $10 million donation from Timothy Mellon, who is also a supporter of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. By December 31st, it had raised $47.8 million. 's presidential ambitions, and more than $5 million in donations from former Trump administration Cabinet member Linda McMahon.
But the super PAC spent $55.4 million over the same period, leaving $23.3 million in the bank at year's end. The $30 million sent to Save America and ultimately to Mr. Trump's lawyers was spent on advertising during the final six months of 2023, according to an NBC News analysis of campaign finance reports on Wednesday. That's nearly 50% more than the $20.4 million he paid for the company. .
The Trump campaign raised $19.1 million (less than 60% of the Biden campaign's $33 million) and spent $23.6 million from October to December.
The campaign spent $97,000 of that money on facility rentals and catering at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. But according to an NBC News analysis, the biggest spenders were advertising at $7.6 million, legal consulting at $3.7 million, air travel and event production at $1.7 million each, and salaries at $1.6 million.
The filings only last through the end of last year, so it's impossible to know how much money Trump has raised or spent in the month since then. But in recent days, he has added a series of big-money fundraising events to his calendar, including one near his home in Palm Beach this week and another next month, according to invitees. will include events held at the Mar-a-Lago resort.
Inside Biden's numbers
Without a strong primary candidate, Mr. Biden was able to focus his money on telling voters about himself and Mr. Trump. Democratic Congressman Dean Phillips of Minnesota, seeking his party's presidential nomination, loaned his last campaign $4 million and raised another $1 million from donors.
Biden spent $19.3 million in the final quarter of this year, about $12 million of which went to creating and running ads. Combined with the $2 million spent on voter texting efforts, communications costs accounted for the bulk of Biden's spending.
Aside from these expenses, his biggest expense was payroll and payroll taxes, which totaled about $3 million.
As an advantage of incumbency, Mr. Biden was able to coordinate fundraising with national parties throughout the campaign. The Democratic National Committee recently reported that it had $21 million in cash on hand at the beginning of this year, but major donors have also been piling money into state Democratic Party accounts through Biden campaign fundraisers.
Because of the primary campaign on the Republican side, Mr. Trump has not been able to similarly use the Republican National Committee (which left him with $8 million in deposits at the end of the year) as a campaign weapon. Although the RNC is officially neutral in the primary, party chairwoman Ronna McDaniel recently called on Republicans to unite around Trump, describing him as the “ultimate candidate.”
