Trump’s $43M fundraiser: Ex-president prepares for glitzy $250,000 Mar-a-Lago bash hosted by hedge fund manager John Paulson to close fundraising gap with Biden

Donald Trump is gearing up Saturday for the biggest political fundraising event of the 2024 election season so far, when a group of ultra-wealthy donors will descend on Mar-a-Lago for a rally expected to raise $43 million for the Republican presidential nominee. .

The fundraiser for the ex-president, called the ‘Inaugural Leadership Dinner’, is being organized by hedge fund billionaire John Paulson and his girlfriend Alina de Almedia.

Trump will attend alongside former First Lady Melania Trump, who has thus far been absent from the 2024 campaign trail, although she will reportedly host her own fundraising event later this month.

Tickets for Saturday’s glitzy event cost as much as $814,600 for the chairman level, which includes seats at the table with the former president, reception and a photo opportunity.

The next level is the host committee at $250,000 per ticket. It includes ‘VIP seating’, reception and photo opportunity.

According to the invitation to the chic event, attendees include South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, both of whom are in the running to become Trump’s vice presidential pick.

Vivek Ramaswamy, another former GOP presidential candidate, will also be a special guest at the event.

Paulson isn’t the only billionaire attending the ex-president’s meeting on Saturday.

The invitation includes a string of other extremely wealthy Republican megadonors as co-chairs, including billionaire hedge fund manager Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah Mercer.

Casino magnate Steve Wynn and his wife Andrea are also on the invite, as are oil magnate Harold Hamm, Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick and supermarket chain CEO John Catsimatidis.

Chicago Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts and New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, the former U.S. ambassador to Britain, are also among the co-chairs.

Several former Trump administration officials will be in attendance, including his former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and his wife Hilary, as well as Director Linda McMahon, who led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term.

Former ambassador to Spain and financier Duke Buchan III is also listed as co-chair with his wife Hannah, along with Georgia Senator and businesswoman Kelly Loeffler and her husband Jeff Sprecher, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.

Also included as co-chair is hotel entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, who was a major backer of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis during the Republican presidential primaries, raising more than $20 million for the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down super PAC.

The glitzy performance in South Florida was said to be the Republican response to Democrats’ recent “Evening with the Presidents” fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall.

On March 28, Biden appeared alongside former Presidents Obama and Clinton, where they were interviewed by late night host Stephen Colbert for a sold-out event.

That star-studded evening raised more than $26 million for Biden and the Democrats.

While some tickets raised as much as $500,000, it generated $9.5 million from grassroots fundraising as more than 165,000 supporters contributed.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee is expected to top that massive fundraising haul with his April 6 event. A Republican National Committee official said it was expected to raise $43 million.

But a source close to Bidenworld questioned the ex-president’s touted March fundraising totals and asked how much of Saturday’s mega-fundraiser total had already been counted toward the monthly fundraising total. They argued that the lack of detail about the number of donors in the monthly fundraising figure is telling.

That source also noted that the dinner doesn’t seem to have the grassroots component, saying big fundraisers are only so sustainable.

Trump has overtaken Biden when it comes to the presidential fundraising race.

Earlier this week, the RNC announced that Trump and Republican groups had raised a whopping $65 million in March, a significant increase over fundraising through February.

The campaign and Republicans ended March with $93 million in cash, a big increase from the less than $42 million Republicans had at the end of February.

But despite the improvement in fundraising last month, when Trump and the RNC struck a new Trump 47 Committee joint fundraising deal, with the ex-president gathering the necessary delegates to be nominated, Biden is still far ahead when it comes to raise cash.

At the end of February, the president had as much as $155 million in cash on hand as he heads into the tough election season.

The record amount has allowed the president’s campaign to make early advertising reservations and invest early in field operations and efforts to expand their political path to victory.

At the same time, Trump faces rising legal costs and has spent millions from his Save America leadership pac on lawyers. The joint fundraising agreement will continue to help fund his legal costs.

Federal election filings for the March campaign will shed additional light on the presidential candidates’ fundraising efforts later this month.