Former President Donald Trump is poised to raise $43 million at his upcoming fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, as reported by Axios on Thursday.
The event is set to outperform President Joe Biden’s $26 million haul last week in New York City and would exceed the expectations of Trump’s team of $33 million.
John Paulson leads Saturday’s event and is touted as Trump’s “Inaugural Leadership Diner,” who has a “Chairman Level” donation of $824,600 that places donors at “dinner seating at President Trump’s table.”
Trump has been eyeing Paulson to become his Treasury secretary if he succeeds in the race.
Paulson remarked early last month, “The dinner is relatively small in nature, and we are almost at our cap.”
A source tells Axios that the event has “surpassed expectations,” which reflects that “the Republican Party is united behind President Trump.”
Before this, the Republican National announced that the former president and GOP-linked groups raised $65.6 million in March.
The RNC announced that it had more than $93.1 million in cash at the end of the month.
The RNC chairman, Michael Whatley, said, “We’re raising funds and making strategic investments to get out the vote and protect the ballot. We are going to win BIG in just 31 weeks.”
“Our campaign, working together with the RNC, has been steadily ramping up our fundraising efforts, and our March numbers are a testament to the overwhelming support for President Trump by voters all across the spectrum,” Susie Wiles, Trump campaign co-manager, said in a statement.
Lara Trump, Trump’s daughter-in-law and RNC co-chair, remarked that the mid-March fundraising event was the “largest digital fundraising weekend” the RNC had seen since 2020.
She further noted that the leadership revamp inspired a lot of GOPers and MAGA supporters to donate.
Among the co-chairs of the Mar-a-Lago dinner were several ambassadors and former Trump administration officials, including Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon and former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, as well as New York Jets owner Woody Johnson.
The Palm Beach dinner is said to serve as Trump’s general election kickoff. Sen. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina), Vivek Ramaswamy, and Gov. Doug Burgum (R-North Dakota), including Melania, who previously opted to remain in the background, will attend the dinner.
Meanwhile, some outsiders raised questions about the arranged deal of the fundraiser, where a portion of the donation would help Trump pay his piling legal bills.
