The Trump campaign is warning Republicans against fundraising off the former president's conviction in his hush money trial in New York City, according to a report.
The campaign, which immediately began soliciting contributions for Trump after the verdict Thursday, expects a potential windfall among small-dollar donors, and is informing down-ballot Republicans not to siphon off funds that would go into Trump's election efforts, Politico reported.
"Any Republican-elected official, candidate or party committee siphoning money from President Trump's donors are no better than Judge Merchan's daughter," Trump co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita said, the outlet reported. "We're keeping a list, we'll be checking it twice and we aren't in the spirit of Christmas."
Trump's operatives began making fundraising appeals building off the former president's comments that the trial was "rigged" and a "disgrace" by asking prospective donors to "Stand with" Trump "following this injustice."
Trump's fundraising page crashed Thursday, and the campaign said it was due to overwhelming response to the guilty verdict.
"The American people see through Crooked Joe Biden's rigged show trial," Trump's campaign posted on the social platform X. "So many Americans were moved to donate to President Trump's campaign that the WinRed pages went down. We are working on getting the website back online as quickly as possible."
The former president's advisers have long warned down-ballot Republicans to steer clear of using Trump to raise funds without their consent, Politico reported.
Last year, the campaign notified candidates that Trump would not endorse them if they employed consulting firms that use his name, image and likeness in fundraising appeals, the news outlet reported.
The campaign last month told Republican vendors it wanted a 5% cut of any funds raised using Trump's name, image or likeness.
Trump was found guilty of 34 counts in his trial in Manhattan criminal court of falsifying business records to disguise a $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels in the weeks before the 2016 election to quash her allegations they had a sexual affair.
