Trump's record-breaking $34.8M fundraising surge post-conviction
Since Donald Trump's conviction, the former president's campaign team has recorded a significant increase in donations from supporters. Campaign activists reported on Friday that a total of $34.8 million has been raised since the court's decision. According to them, this is a new record for small donations in a single day.
3:03 PM EDT, May 31, 2024
"Just a few minutes after the verdict of the sham trial was announced, our digital fundraising system was overwhelmed with support, and despite temporary online delays caused by high traffic, President Trump raised $34.8 million from small donors," Trump's campaign advisors Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement. They added that this is a new record for donations collected in a single day, with 30 percent coming from people who had not previously donated to the campaign.
Trump's lawyers also commented on the verdict itself. On Thursday, Will Scharf said that finding the former president guilty in a criminal trial in New York will only mobilize Trump's supporters and help him in the November elections. "I believe they will be so outraged by this verdict that if anything, it will help, not hurt, his chances of regaining the White House," the lawyer told CNN.
Mobilization before the elections
Not only Trump's team, but also President Joe Biden's team used Thursday's verdict to mobilize voters and donors. Minutes after the verdict was announced, Biden's associates sent out emails and texts to voters, reminding them that regardless of the verdict, Trump will remain a candidate in the November elections. They emphasized that the only way to prevent him from returning to the White House is to vote in these elections.
Trump attacks Biden, calls it a "fascist state"
Donald Trump declared that Biden and his people orchestrated the trial against him. The former president assessed that the USA is currently a "fascist state," and called the judge leading the trial "the devil".
"If they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone. These are bad people. These are, in many cases, I believe, sick people(...). I don't know if Biden knows too much about it, because I don't know if he knows about anything, but he's nevertheless the president, so we have to use his name. And this is done by Washington," Trump said during a speech at Trump Tower in New York.
The former president repeatedly attacked Judge Juan Merchan, the prosecutors, the witnesses, and the entire justice system. Trump claimed that Merchan "literally crucified" one of the witnesses testifying in favor of the former president and, contrary to the facts, stated that he did not allow an election law expert to testify. "This is a man who looks like an angel but he is really a devil," he added, speaking of the judge.
Trump also asserted that New York investigators "ruined the life" of his longtime associate Allen Weisselberg, who was twice convicted of tax crimes and perjury, forcing him to testify against Trump. "He took a plea deal because he didn't want to spend the rest of his life in prison. We live in a fascist state," the former president proclaimed.
He will appeal to the end
Both Trump and his lawyers announced that they would appeal the verdict to the end, if necessary to the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump concluded his statement without answering journalists' questions, even though his appearance was billed as a press conference.
On Thursday, a jury in the Manhattan State Court in New York unanimously found Trump guilty of all 34 charges of falsifying business records to illegally influence the 2016 election. The jurors determined that Trump broke the law by trying to conceal the $130,000 payment for the silence of porn actress Stormy Daniels about their alleged affair. Daniels was reportedly set to tell this story to the media just before the 2016 election. Judge Juan Merchan will decide the sentence during a hearing on July 11.
