Donald Trump Says He Doesn't 'Need Money' as RNC Blows Through Cash

Donald Trump landed in Atlanta on Wednesday and slammed President Joe Biden and Fani Willis, and touted a massive recent fundraising windfall to his benefit as impetus for his party to not be concerned about campaign fundraising.

According to the Republican National Committee (RNC), a fundraising event last Saturday on Trump's behalf in Palm Beach, Florida, raised over $50.5 million and more than doubled a $25 million haul for Biden and Democrats. Couples were charged $1.6 million to attend.

Trump praised the "all-time record" and said that money is not the end-all, be-all in his election battle.

"I think [Democrats] did $24 [million] and we did $52 [million], and we did it pretty easily," Trump told the press on Wednesday after his plane landed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. "I didn't need three presidents; I did it myself. I didn't need so-called stars; we did it ourselves.

"The Republican Party has a lot of money coming into it, it's coming in in small donations, $61 average. We did some large donors the other night...We don't need the money. If you remember Hillary Clinton, I had about one-third the money that she had. And who won? I'm not exactly sure. Who won?

"We don't need the same kind of money they need. They need more money because they take care of more politicians. They hand it out like it's gravy," he added.

Newsweek reached out to the RNC via email for further comment.

The Context

Trump is in town to meet with local officials and larger donors.

Georgia is one of just about a handful of swing states that are predicted to once again determine who will be elected president in less than seven months, with Biden edging Trump in 2020 in a hotly contested race that led to numerous legal battles and claims by Trump supporters that the election was compromised.

Trump was scheduled to meet with former U.S. Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, and business magnates including Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, poultry tycoon Tommy Bagwell and beverage magnate Don Leebern III, according to the Georgia Recorder.

It was described as part of another high-priced event involving Trump, with single tickets costing some $6,600. A photo-op with the presumptive GOP nominee reportedly cost $25,000 per couple price tag.

After landing at the airport, Trump stopped at a Chick-fil-A on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in the Vine City area, according to local FOX 5.

What We Know

Democrats have been outraising Republicans on the campaign trail for months, in some cases doubling their financial war chest as advertising is set to ramp up in the spring and summer.

On Saturday, the same day as Trump's mega fundraiser, Biden and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced that they raised $90 million in March—upping their financial war chest to $192 million cash on hand.

A chunk of that money was from the Biden fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall in New York City which featured former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and was hosted by Late Show host Stephen Colbert.

"The money we are raising is historic," Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden-Harris 2024 campaign manager, said in a statement. "It's a stark contrast to Trump's cash-strapped operation that is funneling the limited and billionaire-reliant funds it has to pay off his various legal fees."

Trump and the RNC raised about $66 million last month, upping their total cash on hand to some $93 million.

But the RNC praised Trump's most recent event, touting it for "smashing" every previous fundraising record and blasting Biden's presidential fundraiser as "desperate."

"The success of tonight's event is proving what we already know: Americans are fed up with Biden's record of failure, from the open southern border and sky-high inflation to the migrant crime crisis that has made everyone less safe," said RNC Chairman Michael Whatley and Co-Chairman Lara Trump in a statement. "The Republican Party is united behind the effort to elect President Donald J. Trump, and Americans are lining up to join our movement and retire Crooked Joe Biden once and for all."

Views

Trump, who told reporters that Biden "doesn't know what the hell he's doing," also said that the criminal trial in Georgia for racketeering and other charges that was put in motion by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis no longer seems to have the same cache.

He said the election interference case has been "totally discredited" and he again described it as "election interference," referring to the personal relationship between Willis and attorney Nathan Wade—the latter of whom ultimately resigned as chief prosecutor in the case after Judge Scott McAfee said that either he or Willis must recuse themselves as a result of their former relationship.

"It's on behalf of her and her lover, Wade. Mr. and Mrs. Wade," Trump said. "And I think the case has been totally discredited. I would hope, it seems to be. And we'll see how that ends. The one in New York is totally discredited. Every legal scholar said they have no case. It's a horrible thing, but it's election interference."