Biden’s money machine, Trump’s legal bills and other takeaways from the 2024 money race

Former President Donald Trump is as strong a fundraiser as ever. But he is bleeding money on legal expenses.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has no shortage of political liabilities going into November, but new campaign finance filings show he is building a formidable cash machine.

Both men raised tens of millions of dollars in the last quarter of 2023, according to campaign finance reports filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission. But they’re spending that money in very different ways as they head toward a likely rematch.

Biden spent months slowly building his campaign operation before ramping up significantly at the end of the year. Across his various committees and fundraising vehicles, Biden entered the year with more than $117 million in cash, even after spending more over the final three months of 2023 than in the first nine months combined.

Trump’s filings, on the other hand, show that while trying to fend off his Republican rivals for the nomination, he’s had to fund his various legal defenses, including efforts simply to keep his name on the ballot amid pushes to boot him under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.