Story highlights Hillary Clinton needed to fill up her campaign coffers before the final push

California has been a reliable ATM for Clinton this cycle

Palo Alto, California (CNN) Hillary Clinton raised over $19 million during a three-day, nine fundraiser swing through California this week, putting the former secretary of state on pace to make August the largest fundraising month of her 2016 campaign.

Clinton headlined a series of star-studded events in Southern and Northern California this week, hobnobbing with celebrities, Hall of Fame athletes and tech billionaires, all while filling her campaign's coffers with needed cash for the final months of her race against Donald Trump.

Look who came over for lunch... 👀 #imwithher A photo posted by Jessica Biel (@jessicabiel) on Aug 23, 2016 at 1:24pm PDT

The fundraisers have also kept Clinton mostly out of the public eye during a series of negative stories about the Clinton Foundation and emails she failed to turn over to the State Department after leaving in 2013. Trump has made the foundation a focus of his attacks this week, even calling for a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton.

When confronted with controversy, Clinton's campaign has consistently reacted in similar fashion: Sit tight, hope Trump will overshadow the story with errors of his own, criticize the media and try solutions that address the issues but don't fully end it.

Closed-door fundraisers -- tweets from celebrities notwithstanding -- have made it easier to employ that strategy.

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