He had already used his tribulations in court to raise funds, and he did it again: former US President Donald Trump, a marketing pro, used his guilty verdict to fuel a new campaign aimed at generating donations to finance his re-election.
On Thursday, a jury uttered the word “guilty” 34 times at the end of Donald Trump’s trial for falsifying business documents, a scheme aimed at covering up a bribe used to buy the silence of a former actress. adult films. Donald Trump then feared that his possible revelations – of a sexual nature – would hinder his election in 2016.
In the minutes following the verdict, fundraising emails poured in, as well as messages to this effect on Donald Trump’s social network, Truth Social.
On his re-election campaign website, where he declares that he is “a political prisoner”, although he is not in prison, he bluntly asks his supporters to donate money: “By the end of Today, I call on 10 MILLION pro-Trump patriots to contribute and say, “I SUPPORT PRESIDENT TRUMP”! My fundraising deadline for the month is IN A FEW HOURS! »
Then, Friday morning, the Trump campaign announced that it had broken a fundraising record after “the verdict in Biden’s rigged trial.” » According to campaign figures — not independently verified — the harvest was $34.8 million. Nearly 30% of these donors opened their wallets for the first time for the Trump campaign on the online platform, the latter said. Several American media reported that the online donation platform crashed and was no longer functional for a certain time on Thursday.
Trump had used his setbacks on more than one occasion to generate funding. Shortly after his arrest on August 24, 2023 as part of another criminal case, the ex-president used the police photo to collect donations, then used it on promotional merchandise such as t- shirts and coffee mugs.
Since Thursday afternoon, several supporters and major Republican donors have publicly posted their monetary contributions to the now convicted felon. This is the case of Shaun Mcguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital, who proudly announced that he had contributed $300,000 to Donald Trump’s campaign. Others, like South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott, relayed the campaign’s call for donations on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
The Democratic camp was not left out: it also took the opportunity on Thursday, and again on Friday, with messages on X which link to a financing site for Joe Biden’s campaign, but without directly mentioning the verdict.
“Donald Trump threatens our democracy. First, he called into question our electoral system. Then, he called into question our judicial system. And now you can stop it,” wrote current US President Joe Biden on his personal X account. The day before, his call for donations indicated how to keep Donald Trump away from the Oval Office: at the ballot box, he indicated, asking for financial contributions to his campaign.
Donald Trump is threatening our democracy. First, he questioned our election system. Then, he questioned our judicial system.
And now, you can stop him:https://t.co/ekIEq70PUl— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 31, 2024
On another monetary subject, the value of the shares of the company Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) fell – by between 9% and 14%, according to the specialized media – after the announcement of the guilty verdict, but regained strength after the opening of Wall Street on Friday morning. DJT shares have since returned to positive territory.