Story highlights Trump trails Clinton in fundraising

The haul came during a typically challenging fundraising month

Washington (CNN) Donald Trump and his joint committees raised $90 million in August, a substantial haul for a candidate late to fundraising but one that still significantly trails Hillary Clinton's enormous summer totals.

Critically, much of the cash raised by Trump last month will eventually head to his campaign's own coffers, giving him greater discretion over how Republican efforts are waged in the homestretch of the general election.

Despite its paltry fundraising operation, the Trump campaign said Wednesday that it collected huge totals from from small-dollar donors, who have flocked to the Republican nominee thanks to his costly investment in digital fundraising tools. The campaign said 2.1 million individuals have given to Trump and it collected over $5 million during Trump's whirlwind, controversial visit to Mexico on the last day of the month.

The campaign said that it and its joint committees had $97 million on hand as of September 1, though it did not disclose how much of that cash was held by the campaign proper.

Additional details will not be revealed until documents are filed with the Federal Election Commission later this month.

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