Hillary Clinton war chest 32 times larger than Donald Trump's

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump's campaign raised $3.1 million US from donors in May, more than doubling previous monthly hauls as he began soliciting donations to battle Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

But with spending that outpaced inflows, the New York real estate magnate's campaign began June with just $1.29 million in cash, putting it well behind Clinton's $42-million war chest, according to federal disclosures filed late on Monday.

Clinton's campaign raised $26 million in May.

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The figures underscore the huge money advantage Clinton is hoping to enjoy leading into the Nov. 8 election, one that could allow her a large staff and millions of dollars of television and digital ads in battleground states.

Trump, who has self-funded most of his campaign and only held his first general election fundraiser on May 26th, is betting he can run a race that builds on his low-spending, insurgent primary operation.

According to a report in Politico, the defunct campaigns of Ted Cruz and Ben Carson have more money on hand than Trump.

Trump's surrogates, however, have said the cash is now "pouring in" for the general election. For months the biggest cash injections into Trump's campaign coffers were from his personal bank accounts.

Trump lent his campaign more than $46 million over the past year — money he has largely not recouped, according to FEC reports.

The campaign has paid about $520,000 to Trump Tower Commercial LLC and the Trump Corporation for rent and utilities. The campaign also paid $423,000 to Trump's private Mar-a-Lago Club in south Florida for rent and catering and an additional $135,000 in rent and utilities to Trump Restaurants LLC.

The campaign paid out $26,000 in January to rent out a facility at Trump National Doral, his golf course in Miami. He'd held an event in the gold-accented ballroom there in late October. The campaign paid almost $11,000 to Trump's hotel in Chicago.

Trump's businesses pulling in revenue

Even $4.7 million the campaign has spent on hats and T-shirts has a tie to Trump. The provider, Ace Specialties, is owned by a board member of son Eric Trump's charitable foundation.

Trump donors, allies and other Republican operatives continue to express concerns about his campaign operation, which has been dogged by internal battles, a threadbare campaign infrastructure of about 30 paid staffers, and a barely existent fundraising apparatus.

On Monday, Trump fired his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who had been tasked with overseeing the campaign's fundraising arm.

The primary Super PAC supporting Trump, Great America PAC, reported raising $1.4 million in May - accounting for most of the $2.5 million the group has raised this year. The PAC had $500,971 cash remaining at the beginning of June.

Clinton's cash advantage has been fuelled in part by the Super PAC supporting her. Priorities USA raised $12 million in the last month, ending May with a $52 million in cash. Three unions, AFT Solidarity, Liuna Building America and International Union of Operating Engineers, each gave $1 million.

The group has largely been tasked with attacking Trump. And so far, they have spent more than $5.7 million this year on television ads alone attacking the Republican.

While Trump's fundraising is struggling and his controversial comments have cost his businesses money — for example, the PGA Tour recently announced it would move its World Golf Championship from a Trump course to one in Mexico City — Trump reported in documents filed in May with federal regulators that his revenue had increased by roughly $190 million over the previous 17 months.

Some of Trump's revenue bump appears to be directly traced to his campaign. TAG Air Inc., the holding company for his airplane, had $3.7 million in revenue in the most recent reporting period — an amount that came largely from the campaign.