File Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before leaving for Alabama to survey areas devastated by powerful tornadoes, in Washington D.C., the United States, on March 8, 2019. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

WASHINGTON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The re-election campaign of U.S. President Donald Trump raised more than 30 million U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2019, CNN reported on Sunday.

Trump's re-election effort now has a substantial 40.8 million dollars remaining in the bank, Tim Murtaugh, the campaign's director of communications, was quoted by CNN as saying.

Murtaugh tweeted Sunday evening that nearly 99 percent of donations were 200 dollars or less, with an average contribution of 34.26 dollars.

The amount that the Trump re-election raised in the first quarter rivaled the combined fundraising haul of the two leading Democrats.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who has made his second bid for the U.S. presidency, led Democratic fundraising with 18.2 million dollars in a window of 41 days, as he officially launched his campaign in February.

California Senator Kamala Harris, the state's former attorney general, followed with 12 million dollars.

Trump filed his paperwork for re-election on the day he took the oath of office in early 2017.

The first-quarter haul this year was an uptick from the 21 million dollars that the president raised during the final quarter of 2018.