WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump plans at least five fundraisers in the coming weeks, significantly accelerating his cash chase as he builds a finance operation from scratch.
The billionaire businessman mostly funded his primary race through personal loans, but he has partnered with the Republican National Committee to raise money for his general election bid. He'll likely face Democrat Hillary Clinton, who with her allies has set a $1 billion goal for the election.
Trump has booked a June 16 event in Dallas, a June 17 lunch in San Antonio and a June 18 event in Houston, according to emails obtained by The Associated Press.
The following week, Trump and his Republican allies will raise money in his hometown of New York City.
There, he'll attend a dinner June 21 and a breakfast the next morning, both hosted by Woody Johnson, the billionaire owner of the Jets and a chief fundraiser for 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney. Invitations for the New York events are being distributed Monday, according to a spokesman for Johnson.
Trump has held just one major fundraiser as a presidential candidate, a May 25 dinner at the Los Angeles home of friend and fellow real estate investor Tom Barrack. It netted more than $5 million. A day earlier, he attended a small donor gathering in Albuquerque ahead of one of his rallies.
Smaller California financial events followed while Trump was campaigning in the state in recent weeks, said Steven Mnuchin, Trump's national finance chairman. Those included one-on-one meetings with major donors and intimate fundraisers that reaped big checks.
Still, some Trump supporters have been itching for the campaign to schedule more finance events. Throughout May and into June, Trump held one larger fundraiser and a few donors meetings in California while Clinton and her surrogates hosted about 17 events there.
