- Donald Trump's political outfit began the year with $122 million.
- Trump's available cash easily dwarfs what the GOP itself has on hand.
- So far, Trump has been stingy and is not sharing his vast war chest with fellow Republicans.
Former President Donald Trump has amassed a staggering war chest of over $122 million as he flirts with another presidential run and as the GOP enters the midterm elections poised to regain one or both chambers of Congress from Democrats.
Trump's money easily surpasses what the Republican Party itself has raised, The New York Times reports. The former president's cash on hand is more than double what the Republican National Committee started the year off with.
There are some strings attached to Trump's funds. The $122 million is stored in a special type of political action committee that legally could not be spent on another presidential campaign. But as Insider previously reported there are few other strings on what Trump can do as he publicly muses about being the 47th president.
So far, Trump is mostly holding on to his money. His Save America PAC said it has donated only $1,350,000 to "like-minded causes and endorsed candidates" — just 1% of its total holdings.
On Tuesday, Trump grumbled about the perceived lack of attention to his blockbuster fundraising. He criticized The Times for not reporting on it, which is odd since the Times' Shane Goldmacher did in fact write about it.
"The Fake News Media has done everything in their power not to report the record setting $122 million that has been raised for Save America and publicly announced last night, they hate that I broke all records," Trump said in a statement released by Save America.
Trump is far from new to setting fundraising records.
His decision to run for re-election from his Inauguration Day led him to easily smash previous marks set by past sitting presidents. But his outfit and the broader GOP establishment burned through millions of dollars as it helped finance his various legal defenses, assembled a massive staff, and spent early on a major TV blitz. By the heat of the 2020 race, his campaign was far more cash strapped than President Joe Biden's.