Trump, Biden tangle over Wall Street ties, fundraising

President Trump on Thursday night accused Democratic nominee Joe Biden of raising big money from Wall Street donors and said he could blow Biden’s fundraising out of the water but his campaign doesn’t need it.

At the presidential debate, Biden appeared to accuse Trump of being in contact with stock traders who sought to profit off the market collapse when COVID-19 struck.

Trump blasted back, saying Biden had set his fundraising records from pulling in big bucks from Wall Street.

“You’re the one that takes all the money from Wall Street I don’t take it,” Trump said. “You have raised a lot of money, tremendous amounts of money. And every time you raise money, deals are made. I could raise so much more money, as president and somebody who knows most of those people, I could call the heads of Wall Street the heads of every company in America, and I would blow away every record. But I don’t want to do that because it puts me in a bad position … you’re the one takes the money from Wall Street, not me. I could blow away your records like you wouldn’t believe.”

President Trump: “You’re the big man, I think… Joe what’s that all about?” #Debates2020 pic.twitter.com/cp2mO86byx

— The Hill (@thehill) October 23, 2020

Biden disputed Trump’s claim, saying his average donation was $43.

Trump started the election cycle with a massive cash advantage over Biden. But the president’s campaign spent heavily early in the cycle and the Biden campaign has beat Trump in fundraising every month this year except for one.

Biden’s campaign came into October with more than $177 million in the bank, while the Trump campaign entered the final month with only $63.1 million.

Trump says he doesn’t need the additional cash, pointing to 2016 when Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton outraised him.

“We don’t need money, we have plenty of money,” Trump said. “In fact we beat Hillary Clinton with a tiny fraction of what she was able to raise.”