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WASHINGTON: Republicans are asking donors for at least $ 60 million to fund legal challenges brought by President Donald Trump over the results of the US presidential election, two sources familiar with the said on Friday (November 6). affair.
The Trump campaign has filed lawsuits in several states following Tuesday’s elections pitting the president against Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
“They want $ 60 million,” said a Republican donor who received requests from the campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC).
The two sources spoke to Reuters about the money requests on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. The Trump campaign and the RNC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Since voting ended Tuesday, the Trump campaign has sent email and text requests alleging foul play and seeking donations.
Live updates: Biden on the brink of victory in the US presidential race.
The call for funds comes as the Trump and Biden campaigns gear up for a potentially lengthy legal fight over the election.
Trump’s senior campaign adviser David Bossie, who heads the conservative advocacy group Citizens United, has been chosen to lead post-election legal challenges, according to a source familiar with Trump’s campaign strategy.
A Trump adviser described the campaign’s litigation strategy thus far as chaotic, disorganized and a “disservice to the president.”
The adviser, who also requested anonymity, said Trump’s team appeared to have been caught off guard by the election results and was not prepared to mount a legal fight.
The campaign has lost court rulings in hotly contested states, including Georgia, but won a legal victory in Pennsylvania on Friday when a court ordered elections officials to set aside provisional ballots cast on Election Day by voters whose ballots absent or mailed were received. on time.
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READ: Biden builds tracks in Pennsylvania and Georgia, closing in on the White House
Biden edged a little closer to a possible victory on Friday as he took a narrow lead over Trump in the battlefield states of Pennsylvania and Georgia three days after the polls closed.
Trump, who started the race with a strong financial advantage, ended his campaign struggling to keep up with fundraising giant Biden.
Biden raised about $ 130 million during the Oct. 1-14 period, roughly three times the roughly $ 44 million raised by the Trump campaign, according to the candidates’ most recent disclosures to the Federal Election Commission.
Biden’s campaign launched a new “Biden Fight Fund” on Wednesday to help raise money for the legal battle, according to emails reviewed by Reuters.
A spokesperson for Biden’s campaign did not immediately comment on whether they had set a fundraising goal.
“The president threatened to go to court to prevent the proper tabulation of votes,” Biden’s campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said in an email, adding that the battle could drag on for weeks.
The Republican official said it was time for the president to “move on.”
“This race is over and the only person who doesn’t see it is Donald Trump,” the official said.
