US –  Former United States President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee (RNC) raised $141million in May, campaign officials have said, a haul apparently boosted by his conviction in his hush money trial.

Trump’s campaign said in a press release that $53million – more than a third of the total – was contributed in the 24 hours after a New York jury found him guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records, making him the first current or former president in US history to be convicted of a crime.

The tally – which Trump’s team announced before being required to under campaign finance rules and is yet to be confirmed by official filings – is nearly double the $76million fundraising total announced for April.

The presumptive Republican nominee’s team said the enormous haul was driven by more than 2 million donations averaging $70.27, with one-quarter of donors contributing to Trump’s race against US President Joe Biden for the first time.

Trump’s campaign said the haul reflected an outpouring of support for the former president over a verdict that had “outraged and motivated Americans from every walk of life”.

“Unfortunately for Democrats, their rigged political operation has backfired in a historic way, and Republicans are in a stronger position than ever to fire Crooked Joe Biden and Make America Great Again by electing President Trump on November 5,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley and Co-Chairman Lara Trump said in a statement.

Trump and his team have repeatedly cast the New York prosecution as a political witch hunt orchestrated by Biden, despite there being no evidence that the president had any involvement in the case, which fell under state, not federal, jurisdiction.

The massive haul continues an improvement in the fortunes of Trump’s fundraising efforts, after his campaign in April out-raised Biden for the first time.

Biden and the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which have yet to announce contributions for May, reported about $51million in contributions in April.

Biden’s campaign raised more than $180million in the 15 months up to April 30, 2024, compared with about $120million for the Trump campaign over the same period, according to Federal Election Commission data. (Al  Jazeera) …[+]