Trump has raised $1.5 million in MAGA donations since he warned he would be arrested

Donald Trump's likely indictment in New York has triggered a funding avalanche, with donors giving $1.5 million in the three days after the former president announced he was expecting to be arrested.

It marks a significant surge in fundraising following a slow start after Trump announced his 2024 presidential run in November.

The Trump campaign confirmed the numbers to DailyMail.com and said the money continued to roll in, fueled by grassroots anger at the treatment of Trump.

He called for protests on Saturday when that he expected to be arrested on Tuesday in connection with a New York investigation into hush money paid to adult movie star Stormy Daniels.

However, Tuesday came and went without an arrest. And on Wednesday, the grand jury hearing evidence did not assemble, delaying the prospect of an indictment.

Donald Trump's 2024 campaign has collected more than $1.5 million in the three days after he revealed that he was expecting to be arrested in connection with a New York investigation

Trump also blasted his rival Ron DeSantis (left) for being 'too busy chatting with a Ratings Challenged TV Host from England' in the form of Piers Morgan (right)

In the meantime, the Trump campaign has sent out a flurry of fundraising emails to cash in on the unprecedented prospect of a former president being arrested.

'We are once again witnessing the complete and utter collapse of America’s justice system,' said a Monday email.

'But very soon, President Trump will be back in the White House to restore true justice in America.'

Some news reports have suggested that Trump would relish a 'perp walk' and being handcuffed in New York, pictures that could be used in fresh fundraising blasts to outrage supporters.

But a source familiar with his thinking said that was not the case.

'There's no world in which Donald Trump wants to be arrested,' said the source. 'That is different from keeping the political nature of this front and center.'

The financial numbers bear that out.

In the two weeks after Trump announced his campaign last year, he raised more than $4.1 million in online donations, according to Politico.

That works out at a little under $300,000 per day, suggesting the indictment news is worth about $200,000 more per day.

But that is less than $1 million a day his Save America Joint Fundraising Committee brought in after the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago home in August last year.  

Police have been out in force around the Lower Manhattan court complex where Trump is eventually expected to appear. However, the grand jury did not sit on Wednesday

Ground staff worked on Trump's private plane on Wednesday at West Palm Beach International Airport. Photographers are keeping an eye on it as they wait for him to fly to New York

Trump again brought up the ongoing legal case on Wednesday. In a social media post, he portrayed himself as a warrior against the radical left while rival Ron DeSantis was giving interviews to British television. 

'While I am fighting against Radical Left Lunatics, Persecutors, and unfair Prosecutors who want to destroy us all, Ron DeSanctimonious is not working for the people of Florida as he should be, he is too busy chatting with a Ratings Challenged TV Host from England, desperately trying to rescue his failing Campaign — But it’s my fault, I put him there!' he posted on Truth Social.

A day earlier, it emerged that DeSantis had sat for an interview with Piers Morgan, a one-time Trump confidant turned vocal critic of the former president. 

In a potential preview of the 2024 Republican primary matchup, DeSantis spoke at length about what he described as fundamental shortcomings of his potential presidential rival

The Florida governor told Morgan that he believed he could beat President Joe Biden in an election, criticized the chaos in Trump's administration and said he didn't care about the former president's attacks.

'To me, it's just background noise. It's not important for me to be fighting with people on social media. It's not accomplishing anything for the people I represent,' he said. 

He also shrugged off Trump's nicknames for him, and said the only thing that fit was 'winner' because of his Florida election results.

'If I were to run,' he said about 2024, 'I'm running against Biden. Like we [him and Trump] are competing for the Republican, potentially, I get that, but ultimately you know the guy I'm gonna focus on is Biden because I think he's failed the country. 

'I think the country wants a change. I think they want a fresh start and a new direction and so we'll be very vocal about that.'