Trump raised $331 million in the second quarter, surpassing Biden's fundraising

Bill Allison, Bloomberg; Compiler: Tao Zhu, Golden Finance

Donald Trump raised $331 million in the second quarter, a fundraising amount that gave him more cash on hand than President Joe Biden, a development that could add to the anxiety among Democratic campaigns about the incumbent president's campaign.

The amount raised by Trump and the Republican National Committee exceeded the $264 million raised by Biden and the Democratic National Committee in the quarter.The campaign said it currently has nearly $285 million in cash on hand, while Biden reported $240 million - a stunning reversal in a fundraising battle that has seen the president's war chest crush his opponent for months.

"Winning this quarter gives us a cash advantage on hand," senior Trump campaign officials Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a joint statement. They slammed Biden's escalating burn rate has not produced any tangible results for them."

Trump beat Biden in the months of April and May, winning the monthly money race for the first time. But the presumptive Republican nominee fell short of fundraising expectations in June, with Biden raising $127 million to Trump's $112 million.

Trump's cash advantage, however, comes at a time when his campaign is facing intense scrutiny from fellow Democrats after a disastrous debate sparked calls for him to step down and put another candidate on the ticket.

Biden’s campaign has reacted angrily to calls from party members, lawmakers and media figures for him not to seek reelection. Biden sought to mobilize donors at weekend fundraisers that would allow him to defeat Trump and plans to speak with Democratic governors on Wednesday.

His campaign released June and quarterly fundraising totals on Monday in a show of strength and to ease donor anxiety. Officials said Biden had his best fundraising month yet, managing to amass cash even as the reelection team invested in paid media and staffed offices in battleground states.

Biden’s campaign said it raised $38 million in the four days starting on June 27, the day of the debate. Trump’s campaign said it raised $8 million the day of the event but did not release an updated total.

Trump, for his part, has stepped up his appeals to deep-pocketed donors and tapped into Republican anger over Biden’s May 30 conviction in a Manhattan trial for concealing hush money, eliminating Biden’s fundraising advantage. Trump raised $52.8 million online in the 24 hours after the verdict, the campaign said, making him the first former U.S. president in history to be convicted of a felony.

Trump was in a weaker financial position early in the campaign, when his coffers were depleted by legal challenges and a contentious primary that drew more than a dozen challengers.

Some of the party’s biggest donors have already opened their checkbooks for Trump. Crypto billionaires Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss each donated $844,600 worth of bitcoin to the Trump 47 Committee, which raises money for Trump's campaign and the Republican Party. Las Vegas Sands and Blackstone's billionaire CEO Miriam Adelson Steve Schwarzman both donated to it in May.