Trump campaign raises $ 30 million in the first quarter

April 14, 2019, 23:22 GMT / Update April 14, 2019, 23:42 GMT

By Monica Alba

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump's campaign raised $ 30 million in the first quarter of 2019 and had over $ 40 million in cash, accumulating a record war chest and far outstripping the number of Democratic candidates approaching. of 2020, depending on the campaign.

Combined with the $ 46 million raised by the Republican National Committee, Trump's re-election effort is expected to be $ 82 million and the campaign is expected to double from the end of last year.

As a licensee, Trump already has some fundraising benefits. But the fundraiser took this traditional advantage further than any of his predecessors. He is the only president to have ever tabled re-election documents on the night of his inauguration. Since then, his team has been regularly looking for donations.

In comparison, former President Barack Obama had announced his re-election plan for 2012 only after the end of the first quarter of 2011. During the first two years of the Trump government, his campaign had reported nearly $ 130 million, easily beating all the others. President in place at this stage.

The total also gives the Trump-Pence ticket a head start on the cluttered group of Democrats vying for the nomination of their party next year.

Trump's total is more than the top two Democrats – Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who raised $ 18.2 million for the quarter and California Senator Kamala Harris, who received $ 12 million. The eight Democratic campaigns that reported their totals before Monday's deadline for deposit raised $ 65.8 million.

After a long and expensive primary battle, "we expect them to be bruised, injured and broken," said a senior campaigner at NBC News.

Trump's configuration in 2020 is far more traditional than his first presidential bid, when he had even pledged to self-finance his race. "I do not need anyone's money. I use my own money. I do not use lobbyists. I do not use donors. I'm mad. I am really rich, "he said at its launch in 2015, after descending the Trump Tower escalator.

Now, with the support and resources of the RNC, the President's campaign plans to launch a "cluster" program for super-donors to help generate more money from wealthy supporters in their circles.

The entire 2016 Trump campaign generated $ 333 million. At this rate, their second attempt will easily make you forget that. Campaign manager Brad Parscale estimates they could spend $ 1 billion this time, three times the cost of the last round.

Assists attributes the huge delay of the first quarter, in part, at the end of the investigation into the Mueller case and to the four-page letter from Attorney General Bill Barr that the lawyer Special has not found any criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian authorities to influence the election of 2016.

Immediately following its publication, Trump staff members in 2020 launched a strategy to capitalize on the president's positive headlines. They launched fundraising emails, SMS, new videos and even created new merchandise for the campaign's website, which features Barr's main resume.

"We do not usually give figures for individual fundraisers, but fundraising following Barr's letter is part of our very important fundraising efforts. Our supporters have been rightly frustrated by two years of lying lies, "said a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign.

The timing probably also played a role. The first-quarter deadline ended on March 31, long before any version of the Mueller report was sent to Congress or made public. The redacted version of nearly 400 pages should be published in the coming days.