Donald Trump leads Joe Biden on fundraising for first time

Donald Trump has overtaken President Joe Biden in monthly fundraising takings for the first time in the campaign for the 2024 presidential election.

Former US president Donald Trump outside Manhattan Criminal Court in New York. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump has overtaken President Joe Biden in monthly fundraising takings for the first time in the campaign for the 2024 presidential election.

The former president and the Republican National Committee raised $US76m ($113m) last month, closing the overall fundraising deficit with the Biden campaign, which received $US51m last month.

Donations to the Biden campaign almost halved from the $US90m it received in March, as the administration faced waning enthusiasm among its base over the US response to the Israel-Hamas war, and opinion polls showed the President trailing Mr Trump in several swing states.

The Democrats still enjoy a significant overall funding advantage, reporting $US192m in cash in hand, including $US84m in the Biden campaign account.

Mr Trump’s campaign did not report its overall cash in hand figure but had $US49m in its campaign account, boosted by a similar amount the campaign said it raised from an event at the home of the billionaire investor John Paulson in Palm Beach, Florida, on April 6.

Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign secretary, said the fundraising figures were “especially remarkable” as they came while Mr Trump was on trial in New York on 34 charges of falsifying business records related to hush money paid to the porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.

“President Trump and the RNC significantly outraised Biden and the Democrats … thanks to the support of millions of small-dollar donors from every state across the country,” she said.

Mr Trump boasted in a post on Truth Social that his campaign’s fundraising last month “far exceeds the Radical Left Democrats”.

His defence lawyers finished presenting their case in the trial on Tuesday, without the former president being called to testify as a witness.

“We’ll be resting pretty quickly – meaning resting the case. I won’t be resting,” Mr Trump said before the day’s proceedings began. “I don’t rest. I’d like to rest sometimes, but I don’t get to rest.”

The Biden campaign dwarfs that of its opponent in terms of staff and spending. Mr Biden’s re-election team has 250 employees on the payroll, and spent $US25m last month, mostly on advertising. By contrast Mr Trump’s campaign spent $US5.5m last month, largely on direct mail advertising, and has about 65 staff on the payroll.

The latest filings with the Federal Election Commission also revealed that Trump-aligned political action committees (PACs) are spending millions each month on his legal fees.

The Save America PAC alone spent $US3.3m on the former president’s legal bills last month, including $US850,000 paid to the law firm of Todd Blanche, Mr Trump’s lead defence counsel in the hush money trial.

Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Mr Biden’s campaign manager, said: “Trump’s operation continues to burn through cash and lag behind our growing and aggressive campaign, with no ground game and no demonstrable interest in talking to the voters they need to win.”

She added: “We’re taking nothing for granted, but only our campaign is doing the required work every single day to earn voters’ support this November.”

Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, vowed that the RNC would not use political donations to pay for Mr Trump’s legal fees when she was voted in as co-chair in March.

Mr Trump faces 88 charges in four separate criminal trials. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Separately, Mr Trump said he was looking at allowing states to restrict access to birth control if he regained the White House, saying in an interview that he would announce a policy on contraception “very shortly”.

The Times