New York: US President Donald Trump's re-election campaign is seeking to capitalise on the looming threat of impeachment by using it to raise millions of dollars in donations and fire up the Republican's conservative base.
Since Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the launch of an official impeachment investigation on Thursday, the US President's campaign has flooded supporters with emails asking them to donate and become members of an "Official Impeachment Defence Task Force".
Meanwhile the most influential prime-time hosts on the conservative Fox News channel have stuck resolutely behind the President, rubbishing the impeachment push and suggesting Biden and his businessman son, Hunter, behaved corruptly in their dealings with Ukraine.
Brad Parscale, who is leading the President’s re-election campaign, said Trump supporters had donated US$5 million following Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment announcement. Credit:AP
The impeachment inquiry will examine allegations Trump used his position to pressure the Ukrainian President to launch a corruption investigation into his potential 2020 election rival, former vice president Joe Biden.
The Nevada Republican Party is attempting to profit from the scandal be selling these T-shirts for US$35.Credit:Twitter
The first series of polls released since Pelosi announced the inquiry showed an increase in support for impeachment, but more than 90 per cent of Republican voters remain opposed to the idea.
"Republican voters see this as a desperate political tactic to weaken Donald Trump before the 2020 election," Republican strategist Stan Barnes said.
"It has a galvanising effect on them but then they are already galvanised behind the President. They see Trump as the only thing standing between them and a bunch of Democratic candidates who scare the hell out of centre-right voters."
Brad Parscale, Trump's 2020 campaign manager, said on Twitter that Pelosi's impeachment announcement had sparked a surge in donations, helping raise US$5 million ($7.4 million) in just 24 hours.
The National Republican Campaign Committee said its online fundraising increased by 608 per cent in the day after the impeachment announcement.
The Nevada Republican Party has encouraged Trump supporters to donate by offering T-shirts saying "Impeach this" to anyone who gives US$35 to the campaign.
My father has done NOTHING wrong, but we all know that won’t stop Democrats and their good friends in the FAKE NEWS from spreading LIES…
Trump's son, Donald Trump junior, has been writing emails on behalf of the campaign urging supporters not to let the "unhinged left-wing mob win".
"What Democrats are doing to President Trump is simply UN-AMERICAN," Trump jr wrote in an email this week.
"My father has done NOTHING wrong, but we all know that won’t stop Democrats and their good friends in the FAKE NEWS from spreading LIES for political purposes."
Alongside the online fundraising drive, Trump has also held major fundraising events with wealthy donors during his time in New York for United Nations General Assembly.
An event organised by hedge fund manager John Paulson on Manhattan's affluent Upper East Side this week raised an estimated US$5m ($7.4 million) for Trump's re-election campaign, while a similar event in midtown on Thursday raised an estimated US$3 million ($4.5 million).
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry against Trump on Thursday.Credit:AP
Fox News host Sean Hannity told his viewers that the Democrats' impeachment drive was "dangerous to this country".
"The world is less safe and secure tonight, as a result of yet the latest partisan witch hunt," Hannity said.
A Marist poll released on Thursday, local time, found that 49 per cent of voters support an impeachment inquiry into Trump with 46 per cent opposed.
Eighty-eight per cent of Democrats support an impeachment inquiry compared to just six per cent of Republicans. Independent voters were split 44-49 against an impeachment inquiry.
"Democrats have been at 10 out of 10 on hysteria against the president since he was elected," Barnes said. "This is just more noise that doesn't affect them."
Republican strategist Jason Rose disagreed, saying he was not convinced impeachment would be a political disaster for the Democrats many assumed.
"Trump is trying to motivate the hell out of his base in the hope it's enough to win," he said. "But there aren't enough of those voters out there."
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