Republican presidential candidate, former US President Donald Trump, arrives at the home of billionaire investor John Paulson, with former first lady Melania Trump, on April 6, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida .
Alon Skuy | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Donald Trump’s campaign said it raised $50.5 million on Saturday, a surprisingly reported haul as his campaign works to catch up to the fundraising juggernaut of President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.
The reported pullout from the event with major donors in Palm Beach, Florida, home of billionaire investor John Paulson sets a new single-event fundraising record and is nearly double Biden’s $26 million the campaign said it raised it recently at a gathering with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama at Radio City Music Hall in New York.
“It’s clearer than ever that we have the message, the operations and the money to propel President Trump to victory on November 5,” his senior campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement.
The event, billed as the “Inaugural Leadership Dinner,” sends a signal of Trump’s resurgence and the Republican Party’s fundraising, that was caught Biden and the Democrats.
“It’s been an incredible few nights before it starts because people — they want to contribute to a cause that makes America great, and that’s what happened,” Trump told reporters as he arrived at the event with his wife Melania Trump.
Trump and the GOP announced earlier in the week that they raised more than $65.6 million in March and closed the month with $93.1 million. Biden and the Democrats announced Saturday that they took in more than $90 million last month and have $192 million-plus on hand.
“While Donald Trump is busy awarding himself golf trophies at Mar-a-Lago and talking to billionaires, Joe Biden is crisscrossing the country connecting with voters and outlining his vision to grow our economy from the bottom up and in the middle,” Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement, referring to Trump’s Florida residence.
Campaign fundraising reports filed with the Federal Election Commission detailing donations from Saturday’s event are not expected until the mid-July filing date.
Trump at first struggled to attract large donors especially when he launched his campaign and some lined up to support the other Republicans who challenged him in the presidential primary. But as Trump racked up easy wins, leveled the field and became the party’s presumptive nominee, the GOP was solidly behind him.
Saturday’s high-dollar event hosted about 100 guests, including more than a few billionaires. Contributions to the event will go to the Trump 47 Committee, according to the invitation, a joint fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee, state Republican parties and Save America, a political action committee that pays most of the legal to be paid by Trump. In an unusual arrangement, the fundraising agreement directs donations to first pay the maximum allowed under law to his campaign and Save America before the RNC or state parties get a cut.
Donors who gave the proposed $814,600 per person or $250,000 per person would have only $5,000 of their donation go to Save America, sending hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cash-strapped RNC.
As Trump prepares in March to install a newly selected leadership team at the RNC, including his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, some RNC members worry that the committee’s money will go toward Trump’s hefty legal fees while he fights in many courts. charges, including four criminal charges.
The fundraising arrangement does not direct RNC funds to Trump’s legal fees. But when checks of any amount are written to the joint campaign, the campaign and Save America are paid first by default.
Co-chairs of the fundraiser include Robert Bigelow, a Las Vegas-based businessman who supported the presidential campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; New York grocery billionaire John Catsimatidis; Linda McMahon, the former World Wrestling Entertainment executive and head of the Small Business Administration while Trump was president; casino mogul Steve Wynn; and former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, by invitation.
Guests were asked to contribute $814,600 per person as a “chairman” contributor, which includes a seat at Trump’s table, or $250,000 per person as a “host committee” contributor. Both options include a photo opportunity and a personalized copy of Trump’s coffee table book featuring photos from his administration, “Our Journey Together.”
Three of Trump’s former rivals for the GOP nomination — South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy — are expected to appear as “special guests.”
Hours before the fundraiser, Trump complained on his social media site about the judge in his upcoming New York hush-money trial and the former president again compared himself to the late Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned for years by South Africa’s long-standing apartheid government before he became the country’s leader.
“If this Partisan Hack wants to put me in the ‘clink’ for speaking the open and obvious TRUTH, I will gladly become a Modern Day Nelson Mandela – It will be my GREAT HONOR,” Trump wrote.
In response, Biden campaign official Jasmine Harris said: “Think about how selfish you are comparing yourself to Jesus Christ and Nelson Mandela all in a little over a week: that’s Donald Trump for you. “
