Former President Trump is aiming to break a brand-new fundraising record set just over a week ago by President Biden.
The Trump campaign predicts that it will haul in over $40 million at a fundraiser on Saturday in Palm Beach, Florida.
That would easily top the more than $26 million Biden’s campaign said he raked in during a fundraising appearance on March 28 with former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton at New York City’s famed Radio City Music Hall.
The president’s re-election campaign called the money raised at the star-studded event – which set a record for a single fundraiser – “historic.”
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President Biden, and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, participate in a fundraising event with Stephen Colbert at Radio City Music Hall, Thursday, March 28, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
More importantly, the fundraising haul helped Biden boost his already formidable cash advantage over Trump as the Democratic White House incumbent and his Republican predecessor face off in a rematch of their 2020 showdown.
But Michael Whatley, the newly installed Republican National Committee chair and Trump ally, said in an interview this week on FOX Business’ “Mornings with Maria” that over $40 million would be brought in at the fundraiser, which he described as a “huge event.”
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Billionaire investor and hedge fund founder John Paulson is hosting the top-dollar fundraiser, which is the kickoff event for the recently formed Donald J. Trump National Committee.
The event will include major contributors, some of whom stayed on the sidelines or supported the former president’s rivals during the recently concluded primary season.
Among those listed as co-chairs of the fundraiser are hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah Mercer. They were major boosters of Trump in 2016 but mostly sat out the former president’s 2020 re-election campaign.
Also on the list of co-chairs are oil magnate Harold Hamm; hotelier and space entrepreneur Robert Bigelow; casino giant Steve Wynn; and Todd Ricketts, a co-owner of the Chicago Cubs, a member of the TD Ameritrade board of directors and former RNC finance chairman.
The “Inaugural Leadership Dinner” will be held at Paulson’s Palm Beach home, which isn’t far from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and resort.
Those attending the fundraiser are expected to donate from $250,000 to over $800,000, which would include “dinner seating at President Trump’s table.”
The gala will feature former first lady Melania Trump and three of Trump’s former 2024 GOP presidential primary opponents who have since endorsed him – Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and multi-millionaire biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who are listed as special guests.
The fundraiser is a further sign of the coalescing of much of the Republican donor class around Trump, now that he’s clinched the GOP nomination and is the party’s presumptive presidential nominee. A source in the former president’s political orbit called the fundraiser a “come home to Trump” moment.
Former President Trump speaks, Tuesday, April 2, 2024, at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)
Trump has long had strained relations with some in the Republican Party’s donor class, but he has worked hard in recent months to improve relations. He’s hosted some of these major contributors in recent weeks.
“There’s no question that most of the major donors who were with [Ron] DeSantis or [Nikki] Haley are coming on board and rallying around the president. I think everybody realizes what’s at stake in the 2024 elections,” Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks, who has close ties to the donor class, told Fox News.
One reason Trump faces such a large fundraising deficit to Biden is that the president has been able to raise money in conjunction with the Democratic National Committee and Democratic state parties across the country.
But a joint fundraising committee set up last month by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) will allow them to similarly coordinate among themselves and with state GOP chapters from coast to coast.
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The committee was formed after the former president and his campaign team, after clinching the GOP nomination, took control of the RNC and installed allies – including Whatley and Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump – in the national party committee’s top leadership positions. Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita is simultaneously serving as the RNC chief of staff.
An RNC and Trump campaign official, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, last week acknowledged that “we’ll never be able to raise dollar to dollar with Biden… but we’re going to have what we need to win.”
President Biden and former President Trump (Getty Images)
The official described the burgeoning Trump campaign/RNC fundraising effort as “impressive” and added, “We feel really good about where we’re going to be this time next month.”
Biden’s campaign recently taunted Trump over the latest fundraising figures, which spotlighted the president’s formidable fundraising advantage.
“If Donald Trump put up these kinds of numbers on ‘The Apprentice,’ he’d fire himself,” Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement.
But Trump and the RNC raked in a substantial amount of cash in March, in a move which will likely ease concerns among some in the GOP over the campaign fundraising deficit they face against Biden and the DNC.
Trump and the RNC highlighted this week that they brought in $65.6 million in March and ended the month with $93.1 million in cash on hand. The figures include money raised by a number of fundraising committees.
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