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The President and Democrats may be girding for a constitutional clash, but their campaigns are working to capitalize on the moment with fundraising appeals.

Shane Goldmacher

A breathless text message from President trump and his campaign landed shortly after speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment request: “I need you on my impeachment defense team.”

Within three hours of Ms. Pelosi’s announcement on Tuesday, Mr. trump had raised $ 1 million, and his campaign Manager said Wednesday that Mr. trump’s campaign and the Republican national Committee had raised $ 5 million within 24 hours. “Huge base of support,” brad Parscale, Mr. trump’s campaign Manager, wrote on Twitter.

The impeachment fight between the democratic-led House of representatives and the trump White house may have triggered a constitutional clash, but for political operatives involved in the 2020 campaign, it also represents a potentially stimulating moment to pry loose wallets.

In a flurry of tweets, text messages and emails, Mr Trump has pressed his millions of supporters to donate to protect his hold on the presidency.

At times, trump’s campaign seemed almost to mock allegations that he improperly sought help from a foreign state against a political rival, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., in a phone conversation with the Ukrainian President.

One email from Mr. trump’s campaign and the Republican national Committee came with a paper clip symbol and the words “call Transcript” in the subject line, suggesting there was an attachment. There was no attachment. Instead, Mr. trump sought “Charter members” for his “official impeachment defense Task force” against the Democratic ” smear job.”

At least initially, most Democrats have been less explicit than Mr. trump in seeking to monetize the impeachment push, with several emailing their lists of supporters to first ask them to sign impeachment petitions rather than asking directly for donations.

But the money was still flowing: an online Ticker for ActBlue, the company that handles most online democratic donations, revealed that Tuesday was one of the big fundraising days in recent months that did not involve a democratic debate or monthly deadline. The site showed $ 4.6 million in donations on Tuesday, after $ 4.2 million on Monday.

All 2020 democratic presidential campaigns use ActBlue, as do most Democratic house and Senate candidates.

The Democratic national Committee said the text message it sent out Tuesday night raised more money than any of its previous text efforts. “URGENT: Stand with speaker Pelosi as the house moves forward with a formal impeachment investigation against Donald trump,” the post said.

D. N. C. also said Tuesday was its best fundraising day of the month. (Notably, the democratic congressional campaign Committee, the campaign headquarters of House Democrats, has yet to include impeachment in its fundraising requests.)

Mr. Biden finds himself in a particularly unusual situation. After revelations that Mr. trump pressured the President of Ukraine to investigate unsubstantiated corruption allegations against Mr. Biden and his son, Mr. Biden’s campaign pushed supporters to support him-financially.

“Disgusting,” read one email subject. “About Ukraine,” said another.

“Donald trump has asked a foreign leader eight times to investigate my family,” one of the appeals reads. “But I’m only going to ask you once: Please, I need you with me at this critical moment. Chip in my campaign tonight.”

A Biden adviser said the campaign tripled its daily online fundraising average on Saturday, although the adviser did not respond Wednesday morning when asked if that pace was continuing.

The campaign also sent a fundraising letter Tuesday night saying that Mr. Biden’s slipping poll numbers were a bigger issue than Mr. trump’s foreign deals.

“Look, here’s the bad news: trump is using the Oval office to pressure a foreign power to intervene in the 2020 election,” the letter said. And it gets worse: a new poll has us down in Iowa, a key first state in this Primary race.”

The release on Wednesday of a reconstructed transcript of a conversation between Mr. trump and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky could add additional fodder to the fundraising effort.

“BREAKING: trump memo bomb,” read a letter from California Sen. Kamala Harris ‘ campaign. Inside, the campaign urged supporters to ” rush to contribute to Kamala’s presidential campaign to elect a President who will fight for truth, justice and the rule of law – and defeat the lawless one we have now.”

Ms. Harris also ran an ad on Facebook targeting Iowa voters in which she called for impeachment proceedings in a video.

The campaign of Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who saw a fundraising blow when she called for impeachment in April, is using the issue to try to expand her email list, running Facebook ads on the issue.

“The impeachment investigation must move forward with the effectiveness and seriousness this crisis requires,” Ms. Warren says in the announcement, which began running on Tuesday. “The house must vote on articles of impeachment – and when it comes to the Senate, I will do what the Constitution requires. Sign up now if you’re with me .”

Ms. Warren’s campaign has been spending modestly on impeachment-related Facebook ads for months, according to Bully Pulpit Interactive, a Democratic digital communications firm. From late April to mid-September, her campaign spent about $ 133,000 on Facebook impeachment ads, according to the firm. But that only accounted for about 8 percent of its total spending on Facebook in that period.

Katie Gluck, Thomas Kaplan and Rachel Shorey contributed reporting.

Shane Goldmacher is a national political reporter and was previously the chief political correspondent for Metro Desk. Before joining The Times, he worked at Politico, where he covered national Republican politics and the 2016 presidential campaign. @ShaneGoldmacher

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