Donald Trump, in Switch, Turns to Republican Party for Fund-Raising Help
Mr. Trump, who by the end of March had spent around $40 million of his fortune on the primaries, has said that he may need as much as $1.5 billion for the fall campaign, but that he will seek to raise it from donors rather than continue to self-finance.
.. even if individuals can contribute up to the current limit of $334,000 at a time to the party
.. Republican Party officials have pressed Mr. Trump to sign a joint fund-raising agreement, which would allow him to raise money for the national committee and for his own campaign simultaneously. That, in turn, would also give Mr. Trump a defensible answer for why, after months of railing against Wall Street executives and special interests, he recently turned to a former Goldman Sachs executive, Steven Mnuchin, to corral large checks for his campaign.
.. While the limits were lower in 2012, Mitt Romney raised less than $500 million under such an agreement that year, using a donor network that had taken years to develop.
.. The Trump campaign plans to try to take firm control over the party’s convention, with two senior advisers to Mr. Trump, Paul Manafort and Barry Bennett, expected to head to Cleveland on Thursday, according to two people close to the Trump campaign.