Former US president Donald Trump raised over USD 4 million in 24 hours after a grand jury in Manhattan voted to indict him for his role in paying hush money to a porn star, his office has said.
A press release said on Friday that over 25 per cent of donations came from first-time donors to the Trump Campaign, further solidifying his status as the clear frontrunner in the Republican primary.
“This incredible surge of grassroots contributions confirms that the American people see the indictment of President Trump as a disgraceful weaponisation of our justice system by a Soros-funded prosecutor,” said the campaign.
As per a recent survey, Trump remains the front-runner in the 2024 Republican field, with the support of 44 per cent of Republicans ahead of DeSantis's 30 per cent support.
Americans from across all 50 states donated to Trump's campaign within the first five hours of the indictment, the release said.
The White House has refused to comment on the indictment of the former president.
“I have no comment on that,” President Joe Biden told reporters on Friday.
Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters in Zambia, “I am not going to comment on an ongoing criminal case as it relates to the former president.”
Trump is due in court on Tuesday in Manhattan
Donald Trump is due to be fingerprinted and photographed in a New York courthouse next week as he becomes the first former US president to face
criminal charges in a case involving a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
A New York judge in a document unsealed on Friday authorised Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, to make the charges public, but it was not clear when he would do so.
Susan Necheles, a Trump attorney, told Reuters he will plead not guilty. Necheles said she did not expect the charges to be unsealed until Tuesday.
For nearly two weeks, Trump has been using the various legal troubles he faces to rally supporters and raise money as he seeks his party's nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden next year in a rematch of the 2020 election.
The first American president to try to overthrow an election defeat, inspiring the deadly 2021 assault on the US Capitol, has signalled he will continue to run despite the charges.
(With agency inputs)