Donald Trump may not have been soliciting donations, but they arrived on his doorstep anyway.
The new politician makes a point of arguing that he is free from the corrupting influence of politics because he doesn’t fundraise or affiliate himself with a super PAC. But his campaign committee took in $3.9 million in nearly 75,000 individual donations during the third quarter of the year, according to Thursday’s filing with the Federal Election Commission.
More than 70% of the money raised by Trump came in chunks smaller than $200.
The billionaire businessman also pledged an additional $100,000 to his campaign — following up on the $1.8 million he dedicated last quarter. Trump has pledged to self fund his campaign.
The Republican front-runner continues to maintain a heavy operation, spending about as much as he collected. Trump spent more than $4 million this quarter, election records show, on things like t-shirts, lodging and travel for staff and rent for the campaign offices at Trump Tower.
The candidate has said he declined to spend money on his television advertising because cable news networks have covered his campaign aggressively. And Trump, for one, said his thriftiness showed precisely why he should be President.
“While our original budget was substantially higher than the amount spent, good business practices and even better ideas and policy have made it unnecessary to have spent a larger sum,” he said in a statement. “To be number one in every poll, both state and national, and to have spent the least amount of dollars of any serious candidate is a testament to what I can do for America.”