Former President Donald Trump‘s felony indictments led to his two biggest fundraising windfalls, new data show.
The former president raised the most amount of money on Aug. 24, 2023, the same day Trump turned himself in to Georgia authorities and a mug shot of Trump was released to the public, an unprecedented moment in American history.
His campaign quickly seized on the mug shot, selling merchandise to his supporters and posting a screenshot to the recently rebranded X with a donation link.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis‘s sweeping 41-count indictment against Trump and 18 others over their efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results led to the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, raising $4,186,918, according to data compiled by Rob Pyers, research director at California Target Book.
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The committee’s second-highest fundraising date came on April 4, 2023, when Trump made his first court appearance in New York due to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment over a hush money payment scheme to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election. The committee raised $3,947,280.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts of falsifying business records before he flew home to his Florida club, Mar-a-Lago.
The fundraising figures correlate with Trump’s poll numbers increasing each of the four times he was indicted last year, to the point that he consistently led all his GOP primary rivals by double digits.
Ten days before Trump appeared in court for the New York case, a Morning Consult poll showed Trump at 55% support among GOP primary voters.
His support increased by 4 percentage points to 59%, one day after a federal grand jury in Miami indicted Trump and his aide Walt Nauta on June 9, 2023, for allegedly mishandling classified documents.
On Aug. 1, special counsel Jack Smith indicted Trump over his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, yet Trump still maintained 59% support among GOP primary voters.
As of Thursday morning, the former president is polling at 73.6%, support above former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley at 18.8%, according to a RealClearPolitics poll average.
Trump has vanquished key competitors, including Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who dropped out one week after the Iowa caucuses, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
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According to the latest fourth-quarter figures from the Federal Election Commission, Trump raised $19 million in the last three months of 2023, above the $17 million Haley raised in the fourth quarter.
Trump’s fundraising committees also spent a staggering $29.9 million on legal fees during the last six months of 2023 as he continues to battle against the 91 indictments. He currently has $33 million cash on hand.
