Trump boosts campaign spending but still lags behind Clinton

Donald Trump raised more than $36 million in July, according to his latest filing to the Federal Election Commission late Saturday night, and boosted his campaign spending.

The Republican presidential nominee’s campaign had more than $38 million on hand at the end of that month.

But the filings show that Trump’s campaign spending is still being dwarfed by that of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. And the campaign’s expenditures on consulting and fundraising are growing, even as Trump has been slow to build staff across the country and hit the airwaves with less than three months left until the general election.

{mosads}The campaign spent just under $18.5 million during the month, compared to Clinton’s $38 million.

About half of that amount, $8.4 million, went to Giles-Parscale, described as a web-marketing firm, according to The Associated Press.

Trump’s fundraising also failed to match Clinton in July. Clinton’s campaign raised $52.3 million and spent $38.2 million. Clinton ended the month with $58.5 on hand, according to the FEC.

Trump earlier this month boasted of an $80 million campaign haul, which includes money that will be shared with the Republican National Committee and state Republican parties.

The Republican nominee unveiled his first general-election ad in the last week, with a $4 million ad buy in battleground states.

By comparison, Clinton has spent $54 million on ads in battleground states since mid-May.