Trump lags Biden in campaign reserves as legal costs mount

But the Biden campaign showed a clear cash advantage over Trump in a filing Wednesday night, with Trump’s $71 million in cash on hand compared to his rival’s $33.5 million. reported more than double its reserves. The Biden campaign widened its lead over the Trump campaign by $56 million from the end of January to $30.5 million.

These reports highlight the extent to which Trump’s legal problems are weighing on his campaign. Save America, the political action committee that the Trump campaign has used to pay for legal fees for the former president and many of his associates, has spent more money than it raised in February, with most of the spending going to litigation. It is used for expenses.

Save America PAC reported it had about $4 million in cash on hand at the end of February. It spent about $7 million during the same period, including $5.6 million paid to lawyers. Since the beginning of this year, Save America has spent $8.5 million on legal fees and the Trump campaign has spent $1.8 million on such costs.

President Trump used the charges against him as a rallying cry for his supporters, accusing Democrats and President Biden of using the Justice Department’s powers as a weapon against him. (Biden has said he is not suggesting what the Justice Department should or should not do regarding prosecution.) President Trump has structured his fundraising efforts to profit from these claims. . For every $1 a donor donates to a campaign through the Community Chest Committee, 10 cents will be allocated to Save America and 90 cents will be allocated to President Trump’s campaign.

The Trump campaign raised about $11 million in February and had $33.5 million in cash at the end of the month. According to campaign finance records, nearly all of the money the Trump campaign brought in during February came in the form of transfers from community chest committees. Both Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump rely on a series of committees that can raise and spend money for their respective candidates.

Although Mr. Biden is trailing Mr. Trump in many early national and battleground state polls, the incumbent campaign and its allies are trailing Mr. Trump in terms of fundraising and cash stockpiled for the general election. exceeds the efforts of This disparity is partially fueled by the fact that Mr. Biden did not face a contentious primary and was able to work with the Democratic National Committee and state parties to raise money.

The Biden campaign said it had $155 million in the bank as of the end of February and had raised money from nearly 500,000 donors. The team also announced that all five organizations raising money for the president’s efforts, including the DNC, raised $53 million in February. A breakdown of the amounts collected by each committee has not been made public, and some of the reports are not expected to be available until April.

With its coffers flush with cash, the Biden team has launched a $30 million spring advertising campaign in key battleground states. That included ads aimed at Latino voters. The campaign has announced it will open more than 100 offices this month, and Biden this week launched a national organizing program to engage Hispanic voters in Arizona.

The Trump campaign most recently began consolidating its fundraising teams and other staff to improve efficiency, working with the Republican National Committee, which has faced its own fundraising burdens. The campaign negotiated the terms of joint fundraising agreements with the RNC and state parties across the country to help accelerate fundraising for Republican efforts.