Trump pulled in more than $35M in second quarter

Former President Trump’s campaign and political action committee together hauled in more than $35 million in the second quarter of fundraising, the Trump campaign confirmed to The Hill.

The news of Trump’s massive joint fundraising committee’s numbers, which includes figures from both his PAC and campaign, was first reported by Politico, which also noted that his joint fundraising committee only hauled in roughly half that figure in the first quarter of this year.

National and local polling show the former president maintaining a wide lead over the rest of the GOP presidential primary field, including chief rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

Some Republicans have started to express concerns about DeSantis’s viability as a candidate amid several stumbles in his campaign, including over his controversial comments on the Ukraine-Russia conflict, which he initially called a “territorial dispute.” 

The Florida governor also landed in hot water with some Republicans, including the GOP LGBT group Log Cabin Republicans, over a video his campaign ran last week seeking to target Trump over his support for the LGBTQ+ community. 

The first Republican presidential debate is next month, though Trump has not yet said whether he’s planning to participate in it.