Former President Donald Trump’s fundraising operation spends more than 90% of money raised on overhead, Bloomberg reports.
Trump raised $24 million between June and September, a 41% increase from the previous three months, but spend $22 million to do it, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Trump spent 91 cents to raise every dollar he brought in, the filings show.
Trump raised about $9.8 million from donors that contributed under $200 but spent $7.3 million on text message fundraising and nearly $7.3 million on online ads.
Trump spent another $2.8 million to rent donor lists.
The rate is far higher than his previous hauls. In 2020, the Trump Make America Great Again PAC spent 77 cents to raise each dollar.
Legal problems a cash boon:
Trump’s increased fundraising haul came amid multiple investigations.
Trump faces a grand jury probe in Georgia, a $250 million fraud lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James and an FBI investigation into classified documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago residence.
Trump has highlighted his legal troubles in his fundraising appeals.
“The lawlessness, political persecution, and Witch Hunt, must be exposed and stopped,” a Trump fundraising email said after the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago in August.
“Radical Democrats campaigned on SUING ME,” another email said after James filed the lawsuit.
Trump hoards cash:
Trump has raised an unprecedented $387 million since leaving office and, despite his burn rate, is “flush with cash at a time when many of the party’s candidates are being outraised,” Bloomberg reported.
Trump has endorsed more than 280 candidates but his PAC has only contributed $910,000 to 181 of the candidates.
