House Republicans move to investigate Alvin Bragg over Trump probe
Fox News congressional correspondent Chad Pergram has the latest on the possibility of a Trump indictment on 'Your World.'
Former President Donald Trump is quickly capitalizing – and cashing in – on his escalating legal predicaments.
Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign confirmed to Fox News that they hauled in $1.5 million in grassroots fundraising in the three days following the former president’s warning on Saturday that he may face imminent indictment and potential arrest in connection with looming criminal charges from a district attorney in New York City.
The former president’s campaign aggressively sprang into action following Trump’s social media post, which sparked a firestorm of media attention. The team sent out a slew of fundraising emails and videos spotlighting the likely indictment from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for the former president’s alleged involvement in hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in 2016, to keep her quiet ahead of that year’s election over her claims she had sexual encounters years earlier with Trump.
"If the current Democrat regime can get away with threatening to arrest its biggest political opponent, then our once great Republic will have fully descended into a third-world tyranny," Trump’s campaign said in a fundraising email sent hours later. The email, which solicits donations, told supporters that "you’re our country’s only hope."
TRUMP AIMS TO TURN LOOMING INDICTMENT INTO 2024 CAMPAIGN ADVANTAGE
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event Monday, March 13, 2023, in Davenport, Iowa. (AP Photo/Ron Johnson)
And in a fundraising video on social media, Trump said: "if you are doing poorly, as so many of you are, do not send anything. If you are doing well, which was made possible through the great policies of the Trump Administration, send your contribution."
Another campaign email urged supporters to sign a petition that aims to compile "millions and millions of petition signatures from Americans like you CONDEMNING these threats of possible arrest." Signing the petition directed supporters to a fundraising page, where they could make suggested donations of $500, $1,000 or $3,300 to Trump’s campaign.
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Trump has long been the most potent fundraiser in the GOP, thanks to his prowess with small dollar, grassroots donors. The former president brought in roughly $9.5 million in fundraising in the six weeks following his mid-November campaign launch – a respectable figure but less than the nearly $12 million his fundraising committees hauled in during the six weeks prior to his announcement that he was running a third time for the White House.
Former President Donald Trump launches his third campaign for the White House at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Nov. 15, 2022. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"It’s shaping up to be the biggest month of the campaign from a campaign finance standpoint," a Trump 2024 adviser who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely told Fox News.
Taylor Budowich, Trump’s former spokesman who now heads up MAGA Inc., the top super PAC supporting the former president’s 2024 White House campaign, predicted that an indictment would "break open the political flood gates" and deliver "support and campaign contributions, like we’ve never before seen."
As a politician who thrives on chaos and turmoil and who’s achieved campaign success by portraying himself as the victim, the looming indictment appears to be a gift for Trump, at least in the short term, as the former president seeks a return to the White House.
Trump has fundraised off political persecution narratives in the past. Last year, Trump saw a jump in fundraising – and in public opinion poll numbers – after capitalizing on the FBI’s search for classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event on Jan. 28, 2023, in Columbia, South Carolina. (AP)
"This is the new normal. The president has been battle-tested," Trump 2024 campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said.
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He noted that "this operation has been fine-tuned since 2016. Dealing with these types of news cycles, you learn to get good at it. We have a full-spectrum response operation on the campaign that can deal with anything that comes our way."
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