Trump leans on small group of rich donors to fund campaign

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump relied on a small cadre of wealthy donors to contribute $23.6 million, about one-third of amount he and the Republican Party raised in March, the latest disclosures to the U.S. Federal Election Commission show.

Real estate and aerospace entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren and Linda McMahon, who was Trump’s pick to lead the Small Business Administration when he was president, were among those who gave more than $800,000 each to support him and the party, the disclosures showed.

Even with the surge in donations to the GOP, President Joe Biden has a wide financial advantage. He’s amassed a record war chest for this point in an election year. Outside groups supporting Biden, led by his main super political action committee, the Future Forward PAC, have now pledged $1 billion to support him.

Trump, whose criminal trial started Monday for falsifying business records related to hush money payments made in the 2016 election, is also raising money for Save America — the leadership PAC that’s been paying his legal fees.

National and state parties, as well as some super PACs and the joint fundraising committees of both candidates, which can raise money in six-figure chunks for their campaigns, filed their quarterly reports to the Federal Election Commission. Here’s how they stack up:

Donald Trump

—Trump and the RNC raised $65.6 million in March, ending the month with $93.1 million in the bank.

—His designated super PAC will report fundraising totals to the FEC on Saturday.

Trump’s first big haul of the election cycle came in late March after he secured the GOP nomination and could start accepting checks of up to $824,600 per donor. The money, raised by Trump 47 Committee, is divided among his campaign, Save America, the leadership PAC that pays his legal bills, the RNC and state parties. His campaign got $178,000 in March, while the RNC got $10.4 million.

Billionaire John Paulson, former Renaissance Technologies co-president and co-CEO, Robert Mercer, as well as Harold Hamm of Continental Resources and Scott Bessent of Key Square Capital Management were among the donors writing big checks to the Trump 47 Committee, which the GOP nominee took over in mid-March. There were 73 donors in all, with some giving $1,000 or less.

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