Former President Trump is attempting to break President Joe Biden’s new fundraising record established just over a week ago.
The Trump team expects to raise more than $40 million at an event on Saturday in Palm Beach, Florida, as it tries to catch up with Biden in the 2024 presidential run cash race.
That would easily surpass more than $26 million. Biden’s campaign reported that he raised money during a March 28 fundraiser with former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton at New York City’s iconic Radio City Music Hall.
The president’s re-election campaign described the money gathered at the star-studded event, which established a single-day fundraising record, as “historic.”
More crucially, the fundraising windfall increased Biden’s already sizable cash advantage over Trump as the Democratic White House incumbent and his Republican predecessor face off in a reprise of their 2020 showdown.
On Saturday morning, hours before the Trump fundraiser, the Biden campaign announced that they had raised over $187 million in the first three months of the year, including more than $90 million in March. They also claimed to have a staggering $192 million in cash on hand.
But Michael Whatley, the recently minted Republican National Committee chair and Trump friend, stated in an interview this week on FOX Business’ “Mornings with Maria” that the Palm Beach fundraiser will bring in more than $40 million, describing it as a “huge event.”
Billionaire businessman and hedge fund creator John Paulson is hosting the high-dollar fundraiser, which serves as the first event for the newly created Donald J. Trump National Committee.
The event will feature prominent contributors, some of whom stood on the sidelines or backed the former president’s opponents during the just-finished primary season.
The fundraiser’s co-chairs are hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah Mercer. They were significant Trump supporters in 2016, but they largely ignored the former president’s 2020 re-election campaign.
Co-chairs include oil mogul Harold Hamm, hotelier and space entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, casino magnate Steve Wynn, and Todd Ricketts, a Chicago Cubs co-owner, TD Ameritrade board member, and former RNC finance chairman.
The “Inaugural Leadership Dinner” will take place at Paulson’s Palm Beach house, which is not far from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and resort.
Those attending the gala are expected to donate between $250,000 and over $800,000, which includes “dinner seating at President Trump’s table.”
The Biden campaign claimed that “if you want to know who Donald Trump will fight for in a second term, just look at who he is having over for dinner Saturday night – tax avoiders, scammers, racists, and extremists. Make no mistake, Donald Trump will do the bidding of his billionaires buddies instead of what is best for the American people.”
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.
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.
