Trump claims record-busting $50m haul from Florida fundraiser as he compares himself to Mandela: Live

The Trump campaign has claimed that they raised $50.5m during a fundraiser at the Palm Beach, Florida mansion of hedge fund manager John Paulson on Saturday night, almost double the amount raised by last month’s Biden campaign fundraiser featuring three presidents, which raised $26m.

Mr Trump spoke to the 117 guests in the backyard of the home for about 45 minutes after joining them for pictures following his arrival, according to a campaign spokesperson.

Ahead of the event on Saturday, Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social at 4pm: “Biggest night in Fund Raising of ALL TIME!!! Will double up the Biden number of last week at Radio City. People are desperate for change. They want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Also on Saturday, Mr Trump compared himself to the late former South African President Nelson Mandela as he welcomed the prospect of going to jail for violating a gag order in his hush money case.

“I will gladly become a Modern Day Nelson Mandela — It will be my GREAT HONOR,” he wrote in a long post on Truth Social.

This comes after Mr Trump suffered legal setbacks in both his Florida and Georgia cases on Thursday.

Donald Trump has made the outrageous claim that President Joe Biden was on drugs when he delivered his barn-storming State of the Union address last month, without providing any evidence to substantiate the allegation.

The Republican presidential candidate, who will take on his successor in November in a rematch of the 2020 election contest, made the off-hand remark about the president’s performance at his 7 March address during an appearance on conservative radio show host Hugh Hewitt’s show on Thursday.

Asked by Mr Hewitt about his probable rival, Mr Trump said: “I think what happened is, you know, that white