Former President Donald Trump raised about $2 million at the first major fundraiser of his campaign, only hours after his arraignment in Miami.
The campaign raised $2.04 million during a “candlelight dinner” with top donors and campaign bundlers, according to a person familiar with the campaign. Trump gave brief remarks to his supporters and was seated at a table with donors and supporters that included Sen. Tommy Tuberville, (R-Ala.), according to an attendee.
While Trump’s campaign has mostly relied on small dollar, grassroots donors, the fundraiser — which had a goal of raising around $2 million — demonstrates how Trump has still been able to rely on deep pocketed supporters to fill his campaign coffers even amid his legal troubles. The campaign has not yet released information on how much money Trump raised in the aftermath of his indictment, but it planned to make those numbers public following attention for his arraignment and a wave of fundraising pleas from his campaign.
Trump had spent Tuesday at the courthouse in Miami where he pleaded not guilty to federal criminal charges that he squirreled away classified military secrets at his club in Palm Beach and stood in the way of efforts by the government to retrieve sensitive documents.
Trump faces 37 felony charges: 31 counts of willful retention of national security records and six counts for allegedly obstructing the federal effort to recover those documents.
After his arraignment, Trump returned with his team of advisers and lawyers to his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., where he addressed a crowd of supporters, some of whom flew halfway across the country at a moment’s notice to give Trump a boost.
Donors for Trump’s fundraiser, who paid at least $1,000 to be there, were ushered inside the club after the remarks for the rest of the program. Earlier, Ric Grenell, Trump’s former acting director of National Intelligence, addressed the crowd indoors. Kimberly Guilfoyle, the fiancé of Donald Trump Jr., was also at the event and spoke to donors.
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