While former President Donald Trump planned his post-White House political life, his flashy private country club properties have emerged as destination points for Republicans looking to raise money through events that are sure to fill the ex-president’s pockets.
Republicans have been traveling to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Resort in Palm Beach, Florida, to meet with donors – despite running for office in other states. While it is common for politicians to travel outside their state to reach larger donors, in the Trump era, they meet and greet Trump in what was once considered the “White House of Winter” – and is now the full-time home of the former president – have become a particularly attractive option.
Former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders held a fundraiser in Mar-a-Lago over the weekend with Trump making a “surprise appearance”. Loyal to Trump since leaving the government, Sanders is running for the job that his father, Mike Huckabee, held from 1996 to 2007 as governor of Arkansas.
“Great weekend in the campaign, featuring a surprise appearance at one of my events by President Trump,” Sanders tweeted on Sunday night, along with a photo of her and the former president. Social media posts on Instagram show Sanders in Mar-a-Lago with former White House deputy chief of staff and social media director Dan Scavino and other guests at the fundraising event.
Sanders, who was publicly encouraged to run for governor by Trump, raised $ 1 million in the first four days after announcing his candidacy, his campaign said. His 2022 run could become one of the first official tests of how much the Republican Party is influenced by the former president against the GOP establishment.
“The Arkansas governor dispute will be decided by Arkansas voters, not the wealthy and famous in New York and Palm Beach,” said Christian Gonzalez, campaign spokesman for Sanders’ only Republican opponent, Arkansas attorney general Leslie Rutledge, in a statement to ABC Notícias. “The only time Attorney General Rutledge was in Mar-a-Lago was to raise funds for President Trump. Attorney General Rutledge’s events usually involve barbecue and catfish, not crab cakes and escargot.”
Since leaving the White House, Trump has hosted several other Republican allies in Mar-a-Lago, while continuing to exercise his influence over several potential candidates in the upcoming elections.
The prices of recent fund-raisers in Mar-a-Lago have not yet been publicly disclosed and it is unclear how much money Trump’s allies are raising from these collections. But they are probably lucrative deals for the former president’s businesses, based on the five to six-digit expenses that the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and several other Republican Party allies reported in connection with the fundraising in Mar -a-Lago in recent years.
Over the past four years, campaigns and political groups have spent together at least $ 12 million on various Trump properties, including more than $ 9 million spent by Trump’s own presidential campaign, the RNC, and its shared fundraising committees.
The Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC and the Trump Tower in New York City have thrived in recent years not only as campaign venues and venues for lavish fundraising events for the Republican Party, but also as popular accommodation options for employees on-the-go campaign and access points for various supporter meetings.
Mar-a-Lago, where Trump has resided since leaving the White House, now appears to be taking on more of that role.
In late February, Utah Senator Mike Lee, running for re-election in 2022, held a fundraiser in Mar-a-Lago, where guests included Florida Representative Matt Gaetz and Colorado Conservative Representative Lauren Boebert arsonists and staunch supporters of the former president. The fundraiser dinner cost $ 10,600 per couple, according to an invitation obtained by the Washington Post.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, considered a candidate for the presidency in 2024, also traveled to Mar-a-Lago this month to greet donors at an event organized by Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle.
An invitation to the March 5 Noem event obtained by Politico indicated a minimum contribution of $ 1,000 to participate in fundraising. Participating in a private and photo discussion with Noem, Guilfoyle and Trump Jr. required a contribution of $ 4,000 per individual or $ 8,000 per couple.
Sanders’ campaign representatives, Noem and Lee did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump also issued a series of endorsements from Mar-a-Lago, including endorsing his former aide Max Miller, who is running for Congress in Ohio against incumbent Republican Anthony Gonzalez, who voted for Trump’s last impeachment.
Over the weekend, during a fundraiser held in Mar-a-Lago for Big Dog Ranch Rescue, a nonprofit dog rescue organization without cages, Trump joked that his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, married to her son Eric, could run for the Senate in North Carolina in 2022.
Earlier this year, Trump received Republicans, including House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., And Senator Rick Scott, R-Fla.
Regarding his own political aspirations, Trump has yet to declare his own intentions for 2024, freezing Noem and other potential candidates while they balance the appeal to the former president’s base with the solidification of his own independent support.
The president of a term did not shy away from maintaining a strong influence in the conservative political field. Immediately after Democrat Joe Biden was announced the winner of the 2020 presidential election, Trump launched a new leadership PAC called Save America, eventually directing much of the money raised through the joint Trump-RNC fundraising effort to the new PAC .
Through his post-election fundraising efforts, Trump’s enormous fundraising capacity raised hundreds of millions of dollars through a joint fundraising apparatus with the Republican Party just two months after the November election. .
But the Trump team and the Republican Party have split over fundraising, while Trump has been arguing with the Republican Party over the use of his name in recent weeks. The former president encouraged voters not to donate to Republican candidates, but instead endorsed only those candidates who remained loyal to him. And while seeking to settle the score with politicians he believes betrayed him, he has already promised to campaign against a Republican in the Senate: Lisa Murkowski, from Alaska.
Earlier this month, Trump also transformed his presidential committee into a political action committee designed to support multiple candidates, signaling a move to support his allies in the 2022 midterm elections.
In addition, Trump and his allies are reportedly in the process of launching a new super PAC, which could accept large checks from donors and spend an unlimited amount of money supporting candidates – unlike regular PACs that are limited by $ contribution limits. 5,000 per donor and per candidate. According to Politico, Trump told his advisers at a meeting in Mar-a-Lago last month that his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski would lead the new super PAC.