Savannah Behrmann, USA TODAY
Published 10:57 p.m. ET July 21, 2020 | Updated 10:57 p.m. ET July 21, 2020
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President Trump defended his response to coronavirus, including his claims that COVID-19 will “disappear.”
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s first nationwide virtual fundraiser raised $20 million, his campaign announced Tuesday night.
The fundraiser was co-hosted by Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, and Trump Victory Finance Committee National Chair Kimberly Guilfoyle. It reportedly raked in 300,000 donations.
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“Trump Victory’s groundbreaking fundraising record proves the American people are passionate about gaining four more years under President Trump’s strong leadership,” Guilfoyle said in a statement.
“The most important measure of success in this race is enthusiasm, and the enthusiasm from President Trump’s supporters cannot be matched,” the statement continued.
In addition to addressing donors and answering questions during the virtual event, the Trump campaign said the president talked via Zoom call with a contest winner: a teacher from Texas.
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The president has not been a presence on any of the Trump campaign’s virtual events until this week.
The massive haul from this event outpaces fundraising from individual events for the presumptive Democratic nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, who has held a number of virtual events since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
Both campaigns have been raising, and spending, huge amounts of money.
Biden outraised Trump by $10 million in June, marking the second straight month the presumptive Democratic nominee posted a greater campaign fundraising haul than the Republican incumbent.
The Trump campaign ended June with a war chest of $295 million on hand to spend for the final four months of the campaign.
The president’s campaign, the Republican Party and affiliated committees, have spent more than record-breaking $983 million since 2017 in re-election efforts.
Additionally, Trump’s Tulsa, Oklahoma, campaign rally, the only one since the beginning of the coronavirus cost a whopping $2.2 million, though it drew a smaller crowd than his usual campaign events.
Tuesday’s massive event and fundraising haul follows several polls showing the president trailing by double digits nationally to Biden, especially on his handling of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The event also included appearances from the president’s daughter Tiffany Trump, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
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