President Trump is holding court Tuesday night at an NYC fundraiser for the Republican National Committee. Tickets to the dinner at Le Cirque are going for up to $250,000 a couple.
Donors willing to cough up a quarter of a mil will get a spot at “private roundtable” with the president, Bloomberg Politics reports, while a $100,000 donation earns “VIP access.” About 150 people are expected to attend the dinner. The cheapest ticket: $35,000.
Attendees are slated to include RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, casino magnate Steve Wynn, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and various members of the New York real-estate community. Several prominent financiers have been invited, according to the Washington Post.
The dinner comes on a particularly fraught night for Trump, hours after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pulled the GOP’s last-ditch effort to repeal Obamacare, and hours before the polls close in the race to fill Alabama’s vacant Senate seat. Trump has vocally supported establishment candidate Luther Strange, but far-right challenger Roy Moore has been running ahead in the polls.
Trump is a regular at Le Cirque. Last year, a restaurant spokesperson told Eater that Trump commonly orders the Dover sole and pasta primavera, an unlisted menu item.
John Catsimatidis, a New York City billionaire, said he might attend Tuesday night’s dinner. In his view, Trump has “made some mistakes,” but donors are happy with the executive branch’s shift in direction. “Don’t forget, under Obama, the business people and the banks were the enemies of Washington,” says Catsimatidis. “The one thing Donald Trump has done is the business people and banks are no longer the enemies, and the business people feel better and they are making investments.”
Le Cirque could use some investment of its own, having fallen on hard times of late. Earlier this year, the New York Times restaurant critics docked its rating to one star, and co-owner Mauro Maccioni filed for bankruptcy this spring. In recent years, the restaurant had been the subject of lawsuits over sexual harassment and unpaid wages.
