The campaign organisation of the former President of the United States, Donald Trump have claimed that it raised more than $7m after he was booked at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia on charges he schemed to overturn the 2020 election in the state.
Africa Today News, New York reports that Trump has received millions in donations since showing up on Thursday to have his mugshot taken, the first time in US history that has happened to a former president, according to his spokesperson Steven Cheung on X, the site that replaced Twitter.
According to Cheung, Trump earned $4.18 million on Friday alone, making it the biggest day of his campaign to far.
The record amount shows how Trump’s legal troubles have helped his campaign raise money, despite the fact that his political operation has spent tens of millions of dollars defending him.
Trump’s standing in the Republican presidential primary has also not been affected by the growing legal issues; the former president now consistently leads his challengers by 30 to 50 points in surveys.
While Trump described his appearance on Thursday as a “terrible experience” and said posing for the historic mugshot was “not a comfortable feeling”, his campaign immediately seized on its fundraising power.
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Before he had even flown home to New Jersey, his campaign was using it in fundraising pitches to supporters.
Trump amplified that message both on his Truth Social site and by returning to X for the first time in two-and-a-half years to share the image and direct supporters to a fundraising page.
Within hours, the campaign released a new line of merchandise featuring the image that began with T-shirts and now includes shot glasses, mugs, bumper stickers, a signed poster and even bobblehead dolls.
The shot of Trump showed him with a red tie, glistening hair and an icy scowl.
Trump, elected president in 2016 but was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden in 2020, is again seeking the Republican Party’s nomination for president.
In the past three weeks, Trump has raised nearly $20m, a period that roughly coincides with his indictment in federal and state cases connected to his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that in January 2021, his supporters attacked the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn his election defeat.
At the same time, Trump’s political operation has been burning through tens of millions of dollars on lawyers as he battles charges in four separate jurisdictions.
A recent campaign finance filing showed while Trump raised more than $53m during the first half of 2023 – a period in which his first two criminal indictments were turned into a rallying cry that sent his fundraising soaring – his political committees have paid out at least $59.2m to about 100 lawyers and law firms since January 2021.