CNN
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New filings show President Joe Biden's political operations are expanding his economic advantage over former President Donald Trump's campaign as the two men race towards an anticipated showdown in the general election. Ta.
Entering February, the Biden campaign had nearly $56 million in cash in its main campaign committee, compared to just over $30 million in a coffer in Trump's comparable account.
And the president, who spent part of Tuesday fundraising in California, siphoned off donor money and grappled with mounting legal problems, a rejection of his remaining rival South Carolina, and a While fighting, he continues to collect donations. Gov. Nikki Haley ends her long-running bid for the Republican nomination.
Haley, who has vowed to stay in the race for Super Tuesday, started February with just under $13 million in cash, spending more than she raised in January, new filings show. Became.
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Here are key takeaways from Tuesday's campaign filing.
Sitting presidents typically have a fundraising advantage, and Biden ended his political campaign in January with a strong financial position. The company announced this week that it has set aside $130 million in cash reserves starting in February across all committees it works with.
(Tuesday's filing covers only a portion of each presidential candidate's political activities. Campaigns and national parties report total fundraising on a monthly basis, but filings from joint fundraising committees Documents (details of funding on hand) are expected to be submitted by the second half of this year.)
The total amount that Mr. Biden touts as having raised across his fundraising committees still falls short of what Mr. Trump and the Republican National Committee had amassed by this point in 2020 — at the time, he and his allies The committee had reported cash reserves of more than $200 million.
But as a sitting president in 2024, Biden has the ability to raise money jointly with the National Party and stockpile cash now for a costly general election battle ahead. His West Coast fundraising tour was expected to bring in as much as $10 million.
The Democratic National Committee raised $17.4 million in January, more than its Republican counterpart, and had $24 million in available cash for the month.it is far beyond
The RNC has $8.7 million in cash available, a slight increase from the $8 million in reserves it reported late last year, but still the lowest total in nearly a decade.
The RNC raised a total of about $11.6 million in January.
The RNC's low financial strength is a major concern for the party and is a contributing factor to the departure of chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who is scheduled to resign later this month, but this comes as the RNC is poised for a Trump presidency. This is part of a fundamental reform. Rebuild the party's foundations.
The RNC's cash reserves are a reported $8.7 million, the lowest level since early 2015 and significantly down from a peak of more than $90 million in 2021.
Trump is the Republican Party's front-runner, but has yet to formally secure the nomination and integrate into the RNC's campaign organization. The move is expected to boost the party's fundraising efforts and give Trump's closest allies more control over committee operations and campaign activities. finance.
The SFA Fund, which leads the super PAC supporting Haley's presidential campaign, spent heavily in January and ended the month with just $1.9 million in cash on hand, leaving the former South Carolina governor with $1.9 million in cash on hand. As Japan vows to continue fighting, military funds are dwindling.
The SFA Fund raised about $12.1 million in January and is led by California-based venture capitalist Tim Draper, Arkansas investment banker Warren Stevens, New Balance CEO Jim Davis and others. In addition to several six-figure donations from individuals and financial interests, the foundation has spent nearly $13.7 million. The first presidential primaries have begun.
This left the group with only about $1.9 million in cash available in February.
The SFA Fund currently reports spending nearly $80 million in total to support Haley's bid for the White House, but despite the huge spending, Trump They have not been able to break their overwhelming lead. Despite spending a lot of money, Haley never won an early state tournament.
The group has continued to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each on dozens of pro-Haley independent expenditures so far in February, suggesting it continues to receive donations, according to FEC filings. There is.
A spokesperson for the super PAC had no comment Tuesday night.
Ms. Haley has vowed to continue campaigning beyond Saturday's primary in her home state, where polls show her trailing Mr. Trump by a wide margin.
“I'm campaigning every day until the last person votes,” she said Tuesday.
In a new memo, two senior Trump advisers argue there is no path for Haley to win the nomination and predict the former president will secure the delegates needed to clinch the Republican nomination next month. .
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President Trump's legal troubles and lawyer payments increase
Even as Mr. Trump racks up electoral victories in early voting states, the former president's legal troubles are mounting.
He currently faces 91 criminal charges in four jurisdictions, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in fines stemming from two recent civil fraud convictions in New York. Trump's first criminal trial, the hush money case in New York, is scheduled to begin on March 25th.
Trump's leadership PAC paid more than $2.9 million to a law firm last month and another $1.9 million in unpaid lawsuits in January as the president's legal troubles deepen, according to a Tuesday filing. The project ended with expenses.
Last year alone, Save America spent more than $55 million on litigation costs, accounting for nearly 85 percent of its expenses. President Trump's political campaign is directing 10% of the funds raised from his political supporters online to “Save America.”
As President Trump's legal costs mount, Save America has also recovered millions of dollars from a super PAC created to support Trump's White House bid. Super PAC MAGA Inc. returned $5 million to Save America last month, on top of the $42.25 million it returned to Save America last year, records show.
President Trump has baselessly raised legal issues as part of a massive political witch hunt aimed at disrupting his campaign for the White House.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent presidential candidate who brought in nearly $2.7 million last month, burned through cash and spent more than $3.2 million, new filings show. .
About $4.9 million remained in the bank at the end of January. The continued candidacy of the scion of one of the most storied families in Democratic politics has raised concerns that his candidacy could siphon votes from Mr. Biden.
American Values, the super PAC supporting his candidacy, said it plans to spend up to $15 million to get Kennedy on the ballot in key states. And Tuesday's filings show that one of the super PAC's biggest backers is Republican megadonor Timothy Mellon, heir to the Mellon Bank fortune. Mr. Mellon, who is based in Wyoming, donated $5 million to a pro-Kennedy super PAC last month, more than half of the amount the group raised in January.
American Values ended the month with more than $23 million in available cash, a sizable war chest.
Mellon also donated $5 million to a pro-Trump super PAC last month.
