Former President Donald Trump is set to host the first fundraiser for his 2024 campaign on Tuesday evening, hours after he had been arraigned in a Miami courtroom. The fundraiser will take place at his Bedminster, N.J. golf club, for what advisers say will be the first in a string of gatherings for donors and bundlers that will take place across the country. The campaign said it expects to raise $2 million at the event, helping to pad the former president’s coffers just weeks before the end of the second-quarter deadline and as Trump gears up for what could be a long and expensive nomination fight. The Associated Press has the story:
Trump is heading to New Jersey Fundraiser
Newslooks- (AP)
Former President Donald Trump has departed Florida for a fundraiser for his 2024 campaign in New Jersey, after he pleaded not guilty to federal charges stemming from a special counsel investigation on Tuesday.
Trump is expected to join the fundraiser just after making public remarks in which he will address the indictment, according to a person familiar with the plans. Preparations for the fundraiser were in the works long before it was known that he would be making a court appearance that same day.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all 37 federal charges in the courtroom in downtown Miami. Trump is accused of mishandling classified documents after leaving office at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The fundraiser, which will take place at Trump’s Bedminister, New Jersey golf club, is the first major fundraiser for his 2024 campaign, which is his third straight bid for the presidency. Campaign advisers say that tomorrow night’s even will be the first in a series of donor and bundler gatherings going forward that will take place from coast to coast.
Trump advisers said that it expects to haul in some $2 million at tomorrow’s fundraiser, which will help add to Trump’s campaign coffers just over two weeks left in the second quarter of 2023 fundraising.
The former president is expected to attend the fundraiser in person after giving an address on the federal indictment. The campaign says that the fundraiser was planned long before Trump was indicted and it was known that he would be arraigned in Florida on the same day.
Polls show Trump with large leads over his Republican primary rivals. Yet Trump is facing a well-funded opponent in Ron DeSantis, who has attracted the support of some of the party’s biggest donors. The Florida governor has raised more than $8 million following his late May campaign launch. A day after announcing his candidacy, DeSantis convened his top bundlers in Miami.
Trump has long relied on small dollar donors to propel him politically. The average contribution, those involved in his 2024 campaign say, is around $30. The former president drew a wave of online contributions in late March, after he was indicted in a separate case involving alleged hush money payments he made to a pornography actress, and his team has been sending out fundraising appeals to supporters trying to capitalize on conservative outrage over the charges in the classified documents case.
But aides say that, in contrast to his previous campaigns, the former president is also regularly working the phones to woo bundlers and other major contributors. Trump aides say they expect more than 300 bundlers to be on board the campaign by the end of June.
According to a copy of Tuesday’s invitation, supporters who bundle at least $100,000 will attend a private candlelight dinner. Those who give less will be rewarded in other ways, including with photo opportunities with Trump and with a “VIP reception with elected officials & special guests.”
The fundraiser will go towards a joint fundraising committee that will split its proceeds between the Trump campaign, which receives 90 percent of everything raised, and Trump’s Save America political action committee, which receives the remaining 10 percent. Trump has been using the PAC to pay for non-campaign-specific activities, such as paying his legal bills.
