President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee pulled in $125 million in fundraising in the third quarter, as Trump seeks to secure his second term in the White House in 2020.
Republican Party officials said on Oct. 1 Trump had set a presidential fundraising record after the hefty sum was raised in the last three months, with more than $308 million pulled in overall this year.
“President Trump has built a juggernaut of a campaign, raising record amounts of money at a record pace,” said Brad Parscale, Trump’s campaign manager.
He wrote on Twitter on Tuesday: “Huge fundraising haul this quarter. The @gop and @realDonaldTrump campaign brought in 125 million!!! @GOPChairwoman has been killing it. She’s a great partner as we go on to win 4 more years.”
RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said there had been a record surge in donations following a Democratic-led impeachment inquiry into Trump over claims that he “seriously violated the Constitution” in his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Trump campaign last week said it would use $8 million on an advert to hit back at Democrats for attempting to “steal” the 2020 campaign. Meanwhile, the RNC said it would use $2 million to attack Democrats for supporting Trump’s impeachment.
“We are investing millions on the airwaves and on the ground to hold House Democrats accountable, highlight their obstruction, and take back the House and reelect President Trump in 2020,” McDaniel said.
The Trump team is aiming to devote $1 billion to his reelection.
During the call, Zelensky was the first to bring up Rudy Giuliani, the Trump attorney who had looked into the Ukrainian business dealings of Hunter. In response, Trump noted that Giuliani is a “respected man” and told Zelensky that he would like to have Giuliani call him.
Trump then referred to videotaped comments, in which Biden describes how—while serving as vice president—he forced the termination of a top Ukrainian prosecutor by threatening to withhold U.S. loans. The prosecutor was allegedly investigating Burisma, the gas company where Hunter Biden served on the board of directors.
“The other thing, there’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that, so whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great,” Trump said. “Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution, so if you can look into it … It sounds horrible to me.”
Trump asked Zelensky to work with Attorney General William Barr and Giuliani to look into the matter. The key allegations about the call were debunked by the transcript, including the claim that Trump made a promise to Zelensky and the claim that Trump repeatedly pressured the Ukrainian leader to investigate Biden.
