Donald Trump plans to raise USD 1 billion for presidential campaign

Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump has said he will spend millions of dollars from his own savings and plans to raise USD 1 billion for November general elections which might end up being the costliest US presidential polls ever.

“I am raising money for the party. I am also going to continue spending money on myself. I think, I will raise a lot. I think, it is going to be a billion. I will raise whetever we need,” Trump, 69, told Fox News in an interview yesterday after his primary wins in West Virginia and Nebraska.

With the two wins Trump increased his delegate count to 1107, just 130 delegates short of being officially declared as a presumptive nominee. He would officially be declared as Rpublican’s presidential nominee at the party’s Cleveland Convention in July.

During the primary campaign, Trump spent more than USD 47 million from own savings, which is far less than the amount compared to some of his rivals like Jeb Bush who raised more than USD 140 million for his White House bid but had to drop out midway.

Noting that he would continue self-funding his campaign, Trump said he would raise the money for the rest of the general elections so that the party can retain its majority in both the House and the Senate. To reach the target of USD 1 billion, Trump last week named Steven Mnuchin as National Finance Chairman.

Chairman and CEO of Dune Capital Management, a private investment firm, Mnuchin is said to be well connected in the Hollywood and Wall Street, industries with uncertain loyalties to Republican presidential candidate.

According to the ‘Wall Street Journal’, Trump is a late entrant to the fund raising race. His potential Democratic rival for general elections Hillary Clinton has raised USD 213 million this past year.

In an interview to ‘The Wall Street Journal’, Mnuchin said his role in the campaign stems from a “long-standing personal and professional relationship” with Trump after their first meeting 15 years ago.

“Do we expect that we will be raising funds and will get support from the film and finance industry? We do,” he said, adding that Trump’s negative comments about Wall Street were “very specific as opposed to broad-based comments.” US media reported Mnuchin also had ties with the Democrats.

In the past two decades, he contributed more than USD 120,000 to both Democrats and Republicans, Politico reported, adding that of this about USD 64,000 went to Democratic candidates and USD 40,000 to Republicans.

Announcing his appointment, Trump said Mnuchin brings unprecedented experience and expertise to a fundraising operation that will benefit the Republican Party and ultimately defeat Hillary Clinton.