Trump, who self-funded his primary campaign, more than doubled his
previous monthly hauls after holding his first general election
fundraiser on May 26.
Donald Trump
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump dismissed a huge fundraising gap with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, saying he could always tap into his personal wealth if he needed more cash for the campaign.
The New York
real estate magnate lagged far behind Clinton in May, raising $3.1
million to her $26 million, according to federal disclosures filed late
on Monday.
Trump, who self-funded his primary
campaign, more than doubled his previous monthly hauls after holding his
first general election fundraiser on May 26.
Trump
spent much of the primary shunning donations, telling his supporters
not to contribute to his campaign and ridiculing his opponents for
accepting donations from special interest groups and wealthy
contributors.
The unorthodox candidate, who is
still struggling to get full backing from the Republican Party
establishment, is betting he can run a race that builds on his
low-spending, insurgent primary operation.
"I
can go a different route, I could just spend my own money, have a lot of
cash and do like I did with the other and just spend money on myself
and go happily along and I think I win that way," Trump said on Fox News.
Trump said he raised $12 million during the weekend for the Republican Party.
He has loaned his campaign $46 million since launching last year and did not rule out tapping his personal wealth again.
"I may do it again in the general election," he said on NBC's "Today" show. "But it would be nice to have some help from the party."
With
spending that outpaced inflows, his campaign began June with just $1.29
million in cash, well-behind Clinton's $42 million war chest.
The
figures underscore the huge money advantage Clinton is hoping to enjoy
leading into the Nov. 8 presidential election, one that could allow her a
large staff and millions of dollars of television and digital ads in
battleground states.
Trump's meager May haul drew a
flurry of taunts on Twitter on Tuesday morning, including a
#TrumpSoPoor hashtag mocking the billionaire. One post joked he had
listed his Mar-a-Lago estate as an Airbnb rental, a platform often used
by people trying to earn cash off their homes.
MONEY IS NOT A PROBLEM
Trump advisers said they were not concerned.
"Guess what - Mr. Trump is a billionaire," Tana Goertz, a Trump senior adviser, told CNN on Tuesday. "Money is not a problem."
Trump's allies have said the cash is now "pouring in"
for the general election. For months, the biggest cash injections into
his campaign coffers were from his personal bank accounts.
Trump
still may have several hurdles to cross before convincing deep-pocketed
donors to write the kind of checks that would make him competitive with
Clinton's campaign bank account.
Trump donors,
allies and other Republican operatives continue to express concerns
about his campaign operation, which has been dogged by internal battles,
a threadbare campaign infrastructure of about 30 paid staffers, and a
barely existent fundraising apparatus.
On Monday, Trump fired his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who had been overseeing the campaign's fundraising arm.
The
primary Super PAC supporting Trump, Great America PAC, reported raising
$1.4 million in May - accounting for most of the $2.5 million the group
has raised this year. The PAC had $500,971 cash remaining at the
beginning of June.
Clinton's cash advantage has been fueled in part by the Super PAC supporting her. Priorities USA raised $12 million in the last month, ending May with a $52 million in cash. Three unions, AFT Solidarity, Liuna Building America and International Union of Operating Engineers, each gave $1 million.
The
group has largely been tasked with attacking Trump. And so far, they
have spent more than $5.7 million this year on television ads alone
attacking the Republican.
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