Donald Trump raised $1.7 million from donors and loaned his White House campaign $7.5 million in April as he moved closer to becoming the Republican nominee for U.S. president and as he continued his criticism of Hillary Clinton by calling her “heartless” for backing restrictions on gun ownership.
The New York businessman had loaned his campaign a total of $43.5 million as of the end of April, according to documents filed with the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Friday.
More recently, he has made moves to build up his fundraising operation with an eye toward the Nov. 8 general election.
Trump became the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee in early May, when both of his rivals dropped out of the race. Trump self-funded much of his primary run, but he has said he will not rely as heavily on his own money for the general election, when he will face the Democratic nominee.
Both people seeking the Democratic nomination have raised more than Trump.
Clinton, the party’s front-runner, brought in $26.4 million in April, including funds from a joint fundraising effort with the Democratic Party.
On Friday, Trump said Clinton was “heartless” because she was backing restrictions on gun ownership that he said would leave Americans in high-crime areas unable to protect themselves.
Clinton has made reducing gun violence a key plan of her campaign platform.
“She’s putting the most vulnerable Americans in jeopardy,” Trump said. He added that women in particular would be at risk, a nod to what he’s said will be a security-focused appeal to women in the general election.
Trump heads into the fall campaign with stunningly high disapproval ratings with women. The supremely confident Trump appeared to acknowledge that weakness, saying that while his poll numbers with men are strong, “I like women more than men.”
“Come on women, come on,” he said.
Trump’s remarks came at the National Rifle Association convention in Louisville, Kentucky. The gun rights organization endorsed the presumptive Republican nominee ahead of his remarks, despite Trump’s previous support for measures like an assault weapons ban that the NRA vigorously opposes.
The businessman has taken a far less restrictive stance on guns during the Republican presidential primary. His call for ending “gun-free zones” across the country was enthusiastically welcomed by the NRA crowd.
He repeated his assertion that the terror attacks in France last year could have been minimized or even avoided if citizens had been armed.
“Paris is, probably in the world, the toughest place to have a gun,” he said.
“No guns on the other side, folks. If you would have had guns on the other side… I promise there wouldn’t have been 130 people killed,” Trump added.
Trump Loans White House Campaign $7.5 mln, Calls Clinton ‘Heartless’
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