Donald Trump forgives loans he made to his campaign and ends June with $20 million in the bank
Reporting from Cleveland — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump ended June with more than $20 million in the bank, according to federal campaign finance filings, as he rebounded from earlier dismal fundraising efforts.
But Trump still significantly lags behind Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in raising cash and spending to build a general-election campaign apparatus.
Trump fulfilled his promise to forgive $47.5 million in loans he gave to his campaign, according to Federal Election Commission reports filed late Wednesday.
He raked in $22 million in contributions to his campaign committee last month, up from $3 million in May. After a concerted online push in June to attract small-dollar donors, Trump brought in $12 million from contributions in increments under $200.
Clinton, meanwhile, brought in $40.5 million in direct contributions to her campaign. She ended June with more than $44 million on hand.
The differences in the two camps’ finance operations extended to the other side of the ledger. Trump continues to run a lean — even spare — operation, spending just under $8 million in June.
That’s more than four times less than Clinton’s expenditures, which totaled $34 million for the month.
Both Trump and Clinton also raised funds with their respective parties, which enabled them to notch larger contributions. In all, Trump jointly raised around $51 million with the Republican National Committee. Clinton and the Democrats pulled in around $69 million for their combined efforts.
The Democratic cash advantage extends to outside groups seeking to influence the November contest.
Priorities USA Action, a super PAC aligned with Clinton, brought in around $12 million in May and ended the month with nearly $42 million in the bank.
The group scooped up several seven-figure checks, including $2 million from Donald Sussman, a New York-based hedge fund manager, and $1 million from Stephen Cloobeck, the chief executive of a sprawling vacation time-share and resorts company. The group also got substantial support from labor and environmental groups.
Without a nod of approval from the candidate or big-money donors such as the Koch brothers or casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, pro-Trump groups are struggling to stay afloat.
The most connected super PAC, Rebuilding America Now, a group assembled by allies of top Trump advisor Paul Manafort, has just $571,000 cash on hand, according to finance reports for the second quarter of 2016.
Another pro-Trump PAC, Committee for American Sovereignty, run by former allies of another Trump supporter, Ben Carson, also has little cash — $33,231 on hand for the quarter.
A relatively brighter spot for Trump is the Great America PAC, headed by veteran GOP strategist Ed Rollins, which has been steadily raising and spending funds to build a massive database of Trump supporters to turn out the vote in target states. It reported $2.5 million raised and $1.2 million on hand for the end of June.
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