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Trump Looks for GOP|Aid as Funding Lags

(CN) - Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday said if need be he'll self-finance his campaign after what some GOP leaders have characterized as a devastating start to his fundraising efforts.

Federal Election Commission filings released late Monday, show that Trump's campaign started June with just $1.3 million on hand, compared with the $42 million in the campaign coffers of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

The poor showing in fundraising was made public only hours after Trump fired campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and heightened image of a presidential campaign in disarray. And the fear that the GOP's hopes of capturing the White House are already unraveling reverberated among Republicans on Tuesday.

"If they don't fix this in a massive way, it's going to have widespread implications down the ballot, Republican fundraiser and strategist Austin Barbour told the Washington Post.

"If he's not raising hundreds of millions of dollars, there are gubernatorial races, Seante races, congressional races, attorney general races, you name it, that will be impacted," Barbour said.

Many Republican donors went so far on Tuesday as to say they haven't even been asked to contribute by the Trump campaign.

Meanwhile, appearing on the Fox News Channel Tuesday morning, Trump appeared to be trying to switch blame to the party. He said while the Republican National Committee and GOP chairman Reince Priebus "have been terrific ... in some respects I get more support from the Democrats than the Republicans."

He added, "it would be nice to have full verbal support from people in the office."

He followed that up with a statement released through his campaign in which he sought to explain the numbers by pointing out his campaign held its first fundraising event on May 25, and that June was therefore only the first full month of such activity for the campaign.

"To date, the campaign's fundraising has been incredible and we continue to see a tremendous outpouring of support for Mr. Trump and money to the Republican Party," the campaign said. "The positive response to our fundraising efforts so far is a further indication that the country does not want yet another corrupt politician like Crooked Hillary."

Trump himself added, added, "If need be, there could be unlimited 'cash on hand' as I would put up my own money, as I have already done through the primaries, spending over $50 million dollars. Our campaign is leaner and more efficient, like our government should be."

A review of FEC filings shows that in May, Trump and the Republican National Committee raised about $18.6 million,

Together, Trump and the Republican National Committee brought in about $18.6 million in May, including a $2.2 million loan from the candidate himself.

Donors contributed nearly $14 million to the GOP, and just over $3 million to Trump's campaign.

Clinton and the Democratic National Committee raised more than double that during the same month, and a super PAC supporting her took in an additional $12 million.

Great America PAC, which supporting Trump, took in $1.4 million last month. But other likely pro-Trump super PACs have yet to report on their contributions, either because they were just formed or because they are on a different reporting schedule.

The GOP began June with about $20 million in the bank and $7 million in debt about $40 million less than the party began June 2012 with on hand, when Mitt Romney was the party's presumptive nominee.

Over all, since launching his campaign for the presidency, Trump has contributed about $46 million of his own money to the effort.

One of the interesting aspects of the latest filings is how much money Trump has spent with his own companies.

According to a review of FEC filings by the Associated Press, through the end of May, the Trump campaign spent $6.2 million on Trump corporate products and services about 10 percent of his total campaign expenditures

TAG Air Inc., the holding company for his airplane, had $3.7 million in revenue in the most recent reporting period — an amount that came largely from the campaign, the AP said..

Trump Ice LLC, the bottled water company, brought in income of more than $413,000 in the most recent reporting period, up from $280,000.

The AP said Trump's campaign has paid about $520,000 to Trump Tower Commercial LLC and the Trump Corporation for rent and utilities. The campaign also paid $423,000 to Trump's private Mar-a-Lago Club in south Florida for rent and catering and an additional $135,000 in rent and utilities to Trump Restaurants LLC.

The campaign paid out $26,000 in January to rent out a facility at Trump National Doral, his golf course in Miami. He'd held an event in the gold-accented ballroom there in late October. The campaign paid almost $11,000 to Trump's hotel in Chicago, the analysis found.

The AP's Julie Bykowicz and Chad Day found that even $4.7 million the campaign has spent on hats and T-shirts has a tie to Trump. The provider, Ace Specialties, is owned by a board member of son Eric Trump's charitable foundation.

As for Clinton, her campaign was absolutely trumpeted the candidate's success in fundraising in May, issuing a statement that said she raised $28 million in May alone " thanks to more than 650,000 contributions from about 430,000 people during the month."

The average donation during May was about $44, the campaign said.

"We're starting the general election in strong financial shape thanks to the support of more than 1.3 million people and strategic investments that helped us conserve our resources," said Hillary for America Campaign Manager, Robby Mook. "That grassroots support will be critical to our success and will ensure that we have the resources we need to communicate Hillary Clinton's message that we are stronger together."

Of course, Clinton still had an electoral contest on her hands, and her latest report shows she spent nearly $14 million in her final primaries and caucuses against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Speaking of Sanders, his latest FEC filing shows that he raised 416.4 million in May and spent $12.9 million.

He started June with $9.2 million in cash on hand.

"In an unprecedented way, we showed the world that we could run a strong national campaign without being dependent on the big-money interests whose greed has done so much to damage our country," Sanders said in a statement about his filing.

The Sanders campaign said it also began shifting its fundraising efforts in May to help other progressive candidates for the U.S. Congress and for state-level offices.

As of Monday, more than $2.5 million has been raised for 21 candidates, the campaign said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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