With the verdict now in place and his historic criminal trial in New York City over, Donald Trump is wasting no time getting back on the campaign trail.
The former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee was the headliner at a campaign fundraiser just hours after his conviction, is scheduled to attend a UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) bout in Newark, New Jersey on Saturday, Fox News confirmed, and will be interviewed on “Fox & Friends” on Sunday.
“We’re going to fight hard,” Trump told Fox News’ Brooke Singman in an interview shortly after he was found guilty of all 34 felony counts in his case, the first time a former or sitting president has been put on trial.
Trump stressed that he was excited to be back on the campaign trail.
2024 showdown: Trump would benefit from criminal conviction
Former President Donald Trump appears in Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday, May 30, 2024, in New York City. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Poole)
“We’re going to fight,” the former president vowed to reporters on Friday in the atrium of Trump Tower in New York City, where he first announced his candidacy for the White House nine years ago.
Trump has been confined to a Lower Manhattan courtroom for six weeks and has been barred from campaigning around the country except on weekends and Wednesdays when he is not in court.
But the Trump campaign touted that even amid the trial, their candidate was able to rake in “billions of dollars” in media coverage and host rallies and fundraisers.
How a Trump conviction could affect his rematch with Biden in 2024
And the former president’s tenure on the court does not appear to have eroded the slight polling advantage he enjoys over President Biden in key battleground states that could determine the outcome of the rematch.
And the former president’s top pollsters released a memo on the eve of the verdict arguing that a guilty verdict would have no impact on the election.
“We are back on task,” a Trump campaign spokesman told Fox News Digital on Thursday night. “President Trump will not allow this false act to stop our campaign from working to save our country.”
Former President Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower in New York City on May 30, 2024, after being convicted of 34 counts of first-degree falsifying business records. (Felipe Ramares for Fox News Digital)
David Carney, a veteran Republican strategist who has worked on several Republican presidential campaigns and now heads a pro-Trump super PAC, told Fox News: “The show trial is over and Trump is free to campaign again. The fact that he has been found innocent will give him a boost.”
Trump’s conviction led to an initial surge in fundraising.
The former president’s campaign announced Friday morning that it had raised $34.8 million between 6pm and midnight on Thursday, shortly after news of the verdict spread.
On Friday evening, the campaign updated its fundraising total, bringing it to nearly $53 million in 24 hours.
Here’s what Trump said to Fox News Digital after the verdict:
In a statement, the campaign highlighted its “record-breaking small fundraising” — “nearly double the largest single-day fundraising ever recorded by the Trump campaign on the WinRed platform” — and said the guilty verdict “has awakened the MAGA movement like never before.”
President Trump is scheduled to continue his fundraising offensive by campaigning in California next weekend.
The former president will head to San Francisco’s Blue Fortress on June 6 to attend a fundraising dinner hosted by tech investors David Sachs and Chamath Palihapitiya, Silicon Valley powerhouses and co-hosts of the popular podcast “All In.”
Former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Trump Tower in New York, Friday, May 31, 2024. The day after a New York jury convicted Donald Trump of 34 felony charges, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee spoke out about the conviction, seemingly trying to shed new light on his campaign. (AP Photo/Julia Nickinson) (AP Photo/Julia Nickinson)
Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, a Trump ally and potential vice presidential candidate in 2024, worked for a technology hedge fund in San Francisco several years ago and played a key role in closing the record-breaking fundraising.
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Trump is scheduled to head south to Beverly Hills for a fundraiser on June 7 and then attend a financial event in Newport Beach, Orange County, on June 8.
The visit doesn’t mean the Trump campaign thinks overwhelmingly Democratic California is a contender.
Rather, Trump’s campaign rally and two Bay Area fundraisers hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris on June 5 are the latest evidence that California remains a major ATM machine for campaign funds.
Get the latest 2024 campaign updates, exclusive interviews and more on Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.
