At party for Trump Jr.’s girlfriend, donors asked to help pick up tab
WASHINGTON >> It was a lavish birthday party for Donald Trump Jr.’s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle. The setting was Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida. The guest list included dozens of Trump family members and friends.
But when it came to picking up the tab, hands went out to other attendees. Among them were at least four whose families are financial supporters of the president’s reelection campaign, for which Guilfoyle helps lead the fundraising. They ended up pitching in tens of thousands of dollars, passed along to Mar-a-Lago, to help pay for what two people familiar with the planning said was a $50,000 celebration of Guilfoyle’s 51st birthday.
The hourslong bash on the evening of March 7 has since emerged as a snapshot of the cavalier way Trump and his team initially handled the coronavirus outbreak. At least one attendee — a Brazilian government official who stopped by the party briefly — has tested positive for the virus, while another — Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida — self-quarantined, though he later announced he had tested negative for the virus.
But the funding provided for the party by Trump’s supporters, which has not been previously reported, also underscored other characteristics that have defined his political career: His reliance on other people’s
money rather than his own fortune, and the overlap between the president’s private and public roles.
Brendan Fischer, an official at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan watchdog group, called the party “an illustration of the blurred lines between Trump’s presidency, his campaign, and his family’s personal and financial interests.”
At the very least, he said, the party created the appearance of supporters of the president currying favor with his family by steering money into his private business, which he continues to profit from.
“This may not be illegal, but it is incredibly unethical,” he said.
The party was organized with the assistance of Caroline Wren, a veteran Republican fundraiser who sent out invitations and gave a speech at the party thanking attendees who chipped in, according to people familiar with the planning.
Wren is a finance consultant to an arm of Trump’s reelection apparatus called
Trump Victory, for which Guilfoyle is the chairwoman of the finance committee. Trump Victory is a joint fundraising committee formed by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, and is Trump’s primary means of raising six-figure campaign donations.
The committee was hosting major donors at a spring retreat in Palm Beach the same weekend as the party, drawing many of Trump’s top financial backers to the area for events, including some at Mar-a-Lago. Guilfoyle’s birthday party became a coveted ticket for donors. Wren said in a statement that she had been friends with Guilfoyle for several years and “volunteered to assist Kimberly during her birthday party celebrations.”
“This was not a campaign event, nor an RNC event,” she continued, “and anything I assisted with was in my private and personal capacity.”
Michael Ahrens, a spokesman for the RNC, said that the party committee and Trump Victory “were not involved in the organization or financing” of Guilfoyle’s party.
The White House declined to comment on the party, and why the president did not pay for it himself.
The birthday party had the feel of a Trump campaign event, according to attendees. The invitees included a panoply of administration officials, campaign figures, political allies and major donors to Trump Victory.