How much money have Wall Street and hedge funds given to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign?

Attacking Hillary Clinton at a rally in Waukesha, Wis., one theme Donald Trump sounded repeatedly was: "Follow the money."

And one of the attacks during Sept. 28, 2016 remarks was this:

"In her campaign for president, Hillary Clinton has received $100 million in contributions from Wall Street and hedge funds."

That’s a colossal figure.

Is it accurate?

Hedging bets

Clinton’s support from the financial sector has made news throughout the campaign. A week before the Trump rally, it was reported that George Soros and two other hedge fund managers had given a total of $5.5 million to Clinton’s campaign or to super PACs supporting her in August 2016.

But that’s a long way from $100 million.

If you think you’ve heard that figure before, perhaps it was from a February 2016 report by the Wall Street Journal. It estimated that since Clinton and former President Bill Clinton entered national politics in the early 1990s, Wall Street has contributed more than $100 million to their political campaigns, charitable foundation and personal finances.

So, that doesn’t help Trump’s claim.

The campaign figures

The go-to source on this is OpenSecrets.org, the website of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

The center generally considers "Wall Street" and hedge funds to be the securities and investment industry. However, other industries could be added, as well.

Trump’s campaign didn’t get back to us with evidence to back his claim.

But we tried to view his claim broadly. We counted contributions to Clinton’s campaign as well as to super PACs that support her. And we counted contributions not only from the securities and investment industry, but also two related industries, as they are categorized by the Center for Responsive Politics.

To be clear: The contributions don’t come from firms. Rather they come from individual employees or members of the organizations, or political action committees tied to the organizations.

Here’s what we found (figures are rounded):

Industry

Contributions to Clinton campaign

Contributions to pro-Clinton super PACs

Featured Fact-check

Jay Rothman

stated on December 1, 2024 in TV interview

“The Universities of Wisconsin are 43rd out of 50 states in the nation, in terms of public support for our universities. The $855 million (budget request) gets us up to average.”

Total

Securities and investment

$7.23 million

$51.4 million

$58.6 million

Miscellaneous finance

$2.55 million

$1.18 million

$3.74 million

Commercial banks

$1.9 million

$55,000

$1.96 million

Grand totals

$11.7 million

$52.6 million

$64.3 million

It’s also worth noting, as the Center for Responsive Politics has reported, that most of the "Wall Street" contributions benefiting Clinton "have come from a tiny group of ultra-wealthy, liberal donors who work in finance. Wall Street more broadly doesn’t have any outsized affection for Clinton, but a relative handful of donors who work in the industry have invested heavily in her."

Meanwhile, the corresponding figures for Trump and super PACs backing him total far less than $2 million.

(Trump has often said he is "self-funding" his campaign, a claim that’s been rated Half True. His campaign accepts contributions, but there’s no question he has funded much of the effort, which might explain in part why Clinton gets so much more money from Wall Street.)

Our rating

Campaigning outside Milwaukee, Trump said: "In her campaign for president," Clinton "has received $100 million in contributions from Wall Street and hedge funds."

The gold-standard source on this subject puts the figure at $64 million.

We rate Trump’s statement False.