Washington (AFP) – Donald Trump’s campaign said Friday it had raised $35 million in online small-dollar donations after he was convicted in his New York hush money trial, boasting that the verdict had galvanized his support “like never before.”
The record-shattering figure amounted to almost double the next best fundraising day for the campaign on WinRed, the official Republican Party donation platform, according to aides.
“Crooked Joe Biden and the Democrats with their election interference political witch hunt have awakened the MAGA movement like never before,” senior campaign aides Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement.
“Just minutes after the sham trial verdict was announced, our digital fundraising system was overwhelmed with support, and despite temporary delays online because of the amount of traffic, President Trump raised $34.8 million dollars from small-dollar donors.”
The advisors said 30 percent of the total came from new donors to the platform and hailed an “outpouring of support from patriots across our country.”
A jury convicted Trump Thursday on all 34 charges of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal in the final stages of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Prosecutors said Trump had sex with porn actress Stormy Daniels soon after his wife Melania had given birth in 2006, and then paid hush money a decade later to avoid the fallout and deceive voters, before creating false paperwork to conceal the payment.
He is due for sentencing on July 11 but is expected to appeal the verdict.
Biden has been at pains to avoid commenting on the trial and there is no evidence that he or his administration had any involvement in the investigation, which was launched by New York State, not the federal government.
Trump has a long record of turning scandal to his advantage, and his campaign website began redirecting visitors to a fundraising page declaring he was a “political prisoner” moments after he was convicted.
The page crashed for around an hour within minutes of launching, however, as the surge of Trump supporters overwhelmed WinRed.
Trump regularly characterizes his legal woes as a battle against the evil forces of the “deep state” and Biden’s White House, casting himself as a martyr willing to sacrifice his liberty to stand up for his supporters.
In April he compared himself to South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela for the second time, and he has also likened himself to Jesus Christ.
“WITCH HUNT! IF THIS CAN HAPPEN TO ME, IT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE!,” Trump posted on his platform Truth Social on Friday.
© 2024 AFP
