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Private meetings and group dinners with the leader of the most powerful country in the world are being sold for millions, according to Wired.
The tech publication revealed on Tuesday that it had received an invitation to reserve a seat at a dinner with President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort for $1 million, with the most recent event occurring this past Saturday. It was listed on Trump’s official presidential schedule as the “MAGA INC. Candlelight Finance Dinner.”
“You are invited to a candlelight dinner featuring special guest President Donald J. Trump,” the invitation read, according to Wired. “Additional details provided upon RSVP. RSVPs will be accommodated on a first come, first serve basis. Space is very limited. $1,000,000 per person.”
In addition to these intimate dinners, Trump is selling one-on-one meetings for $5 million, with one source referring to them as the “hot ticket” in the business community. The money is apparently “all going to the library,” a source told Wired, referring to the presidential library Trump plans on building after he leaves office.
Don Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, said he does not recall a sitting president asking for millions of dollars in fundraising during the first few weeks of his term. Moynihan is one of many experts perturbed by Trump’s pricey gatherings.
“The concern is less about fundraising and more about access and influence … People hoping to get favorable treatment view it in their interest to donate money to Trump,” Moynihan told Wired. “Part of what is worrying is the lack of ethical guardrails in the current Trump administration, where there doesn’t seem to be a clear line between Trump’s businesses and the presidency.”
Originally published by Latin Times
