Trump Says He’s Not Putting Own Money in Campaign

President Donald Trump speaks during a Labor Day press conference at the North Portico of the White House in Washington on Sept. 7, 2020. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump said that he would spend his own money on his reelection campaign but disputed reports saying that it’s because he’s facing a cash shortage.

“Yeah, if I have to, I would. But we’re doing very well,” he told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland when he was asked about using his own money.

“We have much more money than we had last time going into the last two months. I think double and triple,” Trump remarked. “But if we needed any more, I'd put it up personally, like I did in the primaries last time,” he said, noting that he “put up a lot of money” in the 2016 primaries.

“If I have to, I'll do it here,” he said. “But we don’t have to because we have double and maybe even triple what we had ... four years ago.”

Over the weekend, unconfirmed reports claimed Trump would spend up to $100 million of his own money. Trump did not confirm the number.

“President Trump’s fundraising is breaking records and we are paying close attention to the budget, allowing us to invest twice as much from now until Election Day than we did in 2016,” Tim Murtaugh, a Trump campaign spokesman, told Bloomberg News on Tuesday. “President Trump has also built the world’s greatest digital fundraising operation, a dominant ground game, and a third advantage Joe Biden can never match—enthusiasm.”

However, the president said he will spend “whatever it takes” and “we have to win.”

President Donald Trump boards Air Force One before departing from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Sept. 2, 2020. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

“This is the most important election in the history of our country. We have a radical-left group going around,” Trump added. “These people—there is something wrong with them. There really is. There is something wrong with them. And Joe [Biden] doesn’t have the strength. He doesn’t have the mental capability to control these people.”

Later, he predicted that more suburban areas will vote for him.

“The suburbs are coming big to us because the suburbs are next. If you elected [Biden], the suburbs would be overwhelmed with violence and crime. So that’s where we are. This is the most important election in the history of our country,” said Trump.

The president loaned about $43 million of his own money during the 2016 Republican primary, and he routinely touted his self-funding as being free of special interest groups. He has also refused to take a presidential salary, instead opting to donate it to various causes.

After speaking to the press, Trump wrote in several Twitter posts on Tuesday that staffers “did, and are doing, a GREAT job, and have a lot of money left over, much more than 2016.”

“Like I did in the 2016 Primaries, if more money is needed, which I doubt it will be, I will put it up!” he added.

Last month, Biden and the Democratic National Committee raked in about $365 million in contributions.

Meanwhile, Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., will host a reception in Cincinnati, Ohio, to raise money for the president’s reelection campaign, according to the president’s campaign. He will also be in Lima, Ohio, to stump for the president.