Biden's fundraising is outpacing Trump, whose legal bills are weighing him down

President Biden's reelection campaign ended January with nearly $56 million in his pocket, expanding his cash advantage over former President Donald J. Trump, whose campaign had about $30 million on hand at the end of the month.

That's a leap forward for Mr. Biden, who ended 2023 with $46 million in his campaign coffers, and a downward trend for Mr. Trump's campaign, which had $33 million on hand at year's end.

It appears Biden has gained a lead in part because the Democratic Party apparatus, and its fundraising power, has quickly coalesced behind him in what is expected to be the most expensive presidential race ever. As he tries to get the Republican Party fully on board with his renomination, Mr. Trump faces important questions about the political and financial impact of his many legal troubles.

The apparent disparity in campaign money, laid out in filings with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday, doesn't tell the whole story of how the president and the man he defeated in 2020 raise and spend money as they head toward a likely rematch in November . .

For starters, both Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden are raising money through joint fundraising committees, which don't have to file reports until April. These committees often transfer money to the campaigns to pay salaries and buy advertising time. Without these figures, the total financial picture of the candidates is not entirely clear.

More broadly, Tuesday's FEC filings point to differences in circumstances.

Mr. Biden, the incumbent president, is already raising money with the Democratic National Committee, a party giant that could build a field operation for his re-election bid. On Tuesday, his team reported that he had raised a total of $42 million from committees in January to support his re-election efforts, with a total of $130 million at the end of January.

The DNC alone reported $24 million at the end of January.

Trump, on the other hand, is still fending off a primary challenger, Nikki Haley. Until he wins the nomination, he can't raise money with the Republican National Committee. (The RNC reported $8.7 million available at the end of January on Tuesday.)

And perhaps most importantly, committees that support Trump spend millions every month on legal fees.

Mr. Trump faces four criminal charges and civil suits that are proving costly. Last year, committees supporting him spent at least $50 million on legal fees, records show, and those costs are likely to balloon as he prepares for possible lawsuits this year.

Ms. Haley, who has pledged to continue her long-awaited bid for the nomination at least until Super Tuesday on March 5, raised significant money in January even as she lost the nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.

But for the first time since she entered the race, her campaign reported spending more than it raised, raising $11.5 million and raising $13.1 million in January. (Two of the committees that supported her did not submit reports on Tuesday.)

Her campaign reported $13 million in cash at the end of January, down slightly from $14.6 million at the end of December.

Biden's election in January could allay concerns among his supporters that he was unable to secure enough financial support.

By the end of 2023, the committees supporting Mr. Biden had raised a combined total of $97.1 million, and had a combined total of $117 million on hand. It wasn't the overwhelming benefit some in his party expected, given Trump's divisiveness and the fact that the former president had spent resources on primary battles and on his legal fees.

On Tuesday, Biden's campaign manager, Julie Chávez Rodríguez, described his January fundraising as an “undeniable show of strength to start the election year.”

She added: “As Team Biden-Harris continues to build on its fundraising machine, Republicans are divided – either spending money fighting Donald Trump or spending money supporting Donald Trump's extreme and losing agenda .”

The Trump campaign had $30.5 million on hand at the end of January, but also listed about $1.1 million in debt, offset by $490,000 in money owed to the campaign. The campaign raised $8.8 million and spent $11.4 million in January.

Mr. Trump has raised money for his campaign, mainly through the Trump Save America Joint Fund-Raising Committee, which did not file on Tuesday. The joint fundraising committee raised $75.2 million and spent $77.3 million in the second half of 2023, ending the year with $3.6 million.

The January report from one of Trump's committees — the leadership PAC Save America, which he has used to pay his legal bills — showed $6.3 million at the end of January. The group spent nearly $3 million on legal bills in January, and also owes more than $1.8 million to lawyers representing Mr. Trump in his various criminal and civil cases, the filings show.

A spokesman for Mr. Trump, Steven Cheung, responded to a request for comment by sending a link to a Fox News article, which reported that Mr. Trump was expected to raise more than $6 million at a fundraiser in South Carolina on Tuesday evening. (Mr. Biden has planned high-dollar fundraisers in California this week.)

Save America reported $5,008,508.87 in receipts in January — $5 million of which was a transfer from MAGA Inc., a super PAC that supports Mr. Trump. As The New York Times reported last month, transfers of about that size are taking place every month, as part of a massive return of money from the super PAC to the committee.

MAGA Inc. ended January with $19.7 million, compared to $23.3 million at the end of December.

Of the $7.4 million that MAGA Inc. raised in January, $5 million came from Timothy Mellon, a banking heir and businessman who has now invested a total of $15 million in MAGA Inc. has donated.

Mr. Mellon has also attracted the attention of Democrats wary of third-party spoiler challenges to Mr. Biden by giving $20 million more to a PAC that targets Robert F. Kennedy Jr. supports, the political scion and the independent Democrat who is running for president.