CNN
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Former President Donald Trump called Vice President Kamala Harris “retarded” as she tried to persuade top Republican donors to pour more money into his campaign, The New York Times reported Saturday.

According to the Times, the former president's offensive remark came during a dinner with donors at his penthouse apartment last month. Donors in attendance included Trump's former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her husband, as well as hedge fund manager Paul Singer, investment banker Warren Stephens and billionaire Joe Ricketts.

To the group of wealthy donors, Trump argued that his administration's tax policies were favorable to them and that they should be grateful to him and support his campaign more, according to the Times.

Sources told the Times that Trump is frustrated with fundraising numbers as Harris continues to bring in more money than his campaign.

“If money had guaranteed electoral success, Hillary Clinton would have been president,” Trump's campaign said in a statement to CNN on Saturday.

“President Trump is in better financial shape than ever and is ahead in the polls,” added campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

Trump's desperation comes in the final stages of the campaign as the race for the White House remains extremely close. Researchers at OpenSecret, a nonpartisan group that tracks election money, noted in a report this week that at this rate, Trump could struggle to match even the revenue his political operation brought in during the 2020 campaign.

Meanwhile, Harris has raised $1 billion since its launch in late July, CNN reported earlier this week. While other presidential candidates—aside from their political parties—have surpassed the $1 billion mark in past elections, Harris crossed that threshold at breakneck speed.

Trump has often made derogatory comments about his opponents, including President Joe Biden while he was still in the race. Late last month, at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, Trump publicly insulted Harris' mental state, calling her “mentally impaired.”

Harris, for her part, came under fire during her first presidential campaign in 2019 for responding “Well said” to a lengthy question from a voter who had called Trump's actions “mentally retarded.”

Harris posted an apology at the time via her presidential campaign account on Always.”

At the dinner last month, Trump also repeated his recent attacks on Jewish voters who don't support him, saying again: “Their heads need to be examined,” according to the Times.

Trump has used the same phrase several times during the campaign to argue that Jewish voters would bear some blame if he loses in November.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

CNN's Fredreka Schouten, Alayne Treene and Edward-Isaac Dovere contributed to this report.