(THE TRUMP CONUNDRUM) Sympathy dollars keep flowing into Trump’s war chest, legal costs mount too

Washington: Former US President Donald Trump’s campaign blasted out a fundraising email soon after the Fulton County DA Fani Willis announced a sweeping indictment of him and his associates.

It has been the pattern more or less for the previous three indictments, and according to available records, his campaign raised millions on the back of the first two. Details of the last two will be available only after the declaration deadline for this quarter that ends in September.

The fundraiser email to Trump supporters said the indictment was the “the fourth act of election interference on behalf of the Democrats in an attempt to keep the White House under crooked Joe’s control and jail his single greatest opponent of the 2024 election.”

After his indictment in March in a Manhattan case of falsifying business records in connection to the payment of hush money to an adult film star, his campaign and a joint fundraising committee reported that they raised 68 per cent more in the following three weeks than the in the three weeks before, according to an analysis by WUSA, a CBS-affiliated news network, based on fundraising declarations.

According to other reports Trump raised $13.5 million in the week after the indictment. And donations spiked to its highest level yet in this election cycle for him on April 4, the day he was arraigned in a Manhattan court in connection with this case — the day’s collection peaked to $3.9 million.

After Trump’s indictment in Florida in June for his handling of classified documents, his campaign and the joint fundraising committee reported 135 per cent more collections in the three afterwards than in the three weeks before.

In the week following the Florida indictment, the Trump campaign and his joint fundraising committee raised $5.8 million, which was much less than the week after the Manhattan indictment.

The day’s collection on his arraignment was also much less than the first, but he did raise $1.3 million.

Fundraising numbers went down from the first to the second indictment, according to available details, but he still raised millions. The turnover from the third and fourth indictments will show if donors have been just as generous or they are losing interest.

Trump’s expenses have been climbing because of these indictments and, according to Open Secrets, a non-profit that tracks campaign finance and lobbying expenses, Trump’s political network have reported using about $130 million in donor funds to pay lawyers and cover legal costs since he first began running for office.

–IANS