Former President Donald Trump has at least one base of supporters he doesn’t have to worry about losing after his conviction in his New York hush-money criminal trial: Republican megadonors.
“I haven’t heard of anyone who cares,” said Andy Sabin, a New York businessman and Republican donor. Republican The contributors he knows are concerned about Trump’s court decisions.
Many of the party’s wealthiest donors have told CNBC they plan to continue supporting Trump despite his conviction on all 34 felony counts in New York state.
The donors’ sentiment represents a shift for some big Republican donors who initially sought an alternative to Trump in the GOP presidential primary, believing his legal troubles would fatally weaken his campaign to replace President Joe Biden.
“Now, I don’t really care about that at all,” a longtime Republican fundraiser told CNBC. “A year ago, [the trials mattered]…Not at the moment.”
The person, along with several others mentioned in this article, was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations with Trump and donors.
The solidarity of big donors with Trump is also reflected in his fundraising numbers: His trial began April 15 on 34 felony charges that he falsified business records to hide hush money payments to porn stars. That month, Trump’s campaign committee raised $9.4 million.
Trump’s donation site was briefly down after Thursday’s ruling, and aides directed potential donors to an alternative page.
Trump and the Republican National Committee said they raised more than $76 million together in April. Biden’s team said it raised $51 million for its political efforts, including through the Democratic National Committee, in the same period.
Trump recently raised tens of millions of dollars at private events hosted by major Republican donors.
Ray Washburn, a Texas businessman and former senior Trump administration official, Dallas For President Trump on May 22nd.
Washburn told CNBC that the event raised $10 million for the Trump campaign, his political action committee Save America, the Republican National Committee and the Trump 47 Committee, which raises money for dozens of state parties.
He called Trump’s New York trial “frivolous” and “absurd,” adding that “Trump will have no problem raising money.”
Omeed Malik, president of 1789 Capital and a Trump donor, told CNBC that a guilty verdict “would completely backfire, just like the indictment, which has actually boosted Trump’s support.” [Trump’s] support.”
Malik co-hosted a fundraiser for Trump. new york By May 14th, it had raised over $10 million.
David Tamasi, a Republican fundraiser and managing director at lobbying firm Chartwell Strategy Group, said a conviction is “not an issue.”
“If someone had told me after January 6th that this country would be in the situation it is now, I think it would have been hard to fathom,” Tamasi said, citing Biden’s issues with the U.S.-Mexico border and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Venture capitalist David SachsSachs, who co-hosted a Trump event in June, posted a message of support for the former president on X after the verdict was read. “Trump has many supporters in Silicon Valley, many of whom are just afraid to admit it, but with every courageous act like this, the dam begins to break,” Sachs said.
Tamasi raised money for Trump’s 2020 campaign and for former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who ran unsuccessfully against Trump last year.
Tamasi now says he plans to return to support Trump again, possibly to raise funds as well.
A Republican business consultant described recent conversations he had with nearly a dozen lobbyists who had personally criticized Trump since Jan. 6 and as the New York trial loomed.
All of them will return to help raise money for Trump, despite their convictions.
But perhaps the case that best illustrates how Republican megadonors view Trump’s legal troubles is that of Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman.
Following the deadly Jan. 6 2021 storming of the Capitol by hundreds of Trump supporters, Schwarzman called the riot “horrific” and said he was “shocked and horrified by the attempt by this mob to undermine the Constitution.”
In 2022, the billionaire and longtime Republican donor announced that “it’s time for the Republican Party to turn to a new generation of leaders,” in an apparent criticism of the party’s former leader, Trump. Schwarzman also said he plans to support one of these “new” leaders in the 2024 presidential primary.
But two years later, Schwarzman has changed his tune. After not endorsing any candidates in the Republican primary, Schwarzman announced he was backing Trump’s candidacy for president. “I am voting for change and will be supporting Donald Trump for president,” Schwarzman said in a statement to Axios published on May 24.
That same day, Trump’s defense team in his criminal trial in New York was cross-examining Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, who testified that Trump directed $130,000 to be spent to buy the hush money of a porn star before the 2016 election.
A spokesman for Schwarzman did not respond to a request for comment.
