CNN
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Former President Donald Trump turned a New York courtroom into a Florida ballroom this weekend, where he mingled with vice presidential candidates and wealthy donors during the Republican National Committee’s spring break.
former president The highlight of Saturday’s fundraising luncheon at his club, Mar-a-Lago, was President Trump courting deep-pocketed supporters to keep up with the Biden campaign’s ever-growing war chest. Ta.
Top Republican donors and prominent party leaders first gathered at the Four Seasons on Friday, according to reports, and were joined by President Trump’s daughter-in-law and RNC co-chairman Lara Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republican Conference Chairman A welcome reception was held with Elise Stefanik and others. Sources familiar with the weekend’s itinerary.
The annual weekend retreat typically serves as a gathering place for Republican elites, but this year’s special guests included a series of Republicans who are on President Trump’s running mate list. Some of them received praise from the former president. Saturday’s luncheon, a person familiar with the event told CNN. President Trump will be joined by Stefanik, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Rep. Byron Donald, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, and North Dakota Gov. Doug.・Mr. Burgum and others were called to the podium.
President Trump praised Stefanik as a “tremendous talent” and said Rubio is doing a great job.
Other notable guests include Florida Sen. Rick Scott, Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt, Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dave McCormick, They included Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem also attended. She has been working on damage control, recently publishing excerpts from her upcoming book detailing how she shot and killed her dog Cricket last week.
Trump’s senior advisers told CNN that the president is not expected to announce his running mate anytime soon. Although his team has already begun the vetting process, the list of vice presidential candidates remains long and in flux, he said. He plans to announce a formal decision near the Republican National Convention in July.
“I think we’ll be making that decision closer to Wisconsin time,” Trump told the Fox affiliate in Wisconsin on Wednesday. “It’s very early now.”
President Trump is scheduled to attend the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday.
Election campaign trajectory and courtroom
Trump campaign advisers told donors at Saturday’s retreat that the campaign and its allies raised $76.2 million in April, two attendees told CNN.
In a presentation to donors, Trump campaign staffers Susie Wiles and Chris Lacivita, as well as Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio, detailed the fundraising numbers and showed that Trump is in Virginia and He presented an example of Mr. Trump’s electoral path that suggests there may be competition in two states: Minnesota. In recent elections he has leaned toward the Democratic Party.
The Biden campaign dismissed the idea. “Mr. Trump is not campaigning in a single battleground state,” Biden campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt said in a statement to CNN.
During the presentation, Trump campaign advisers also talked about two upcoming stops on President Trump’s schedule: a fundraiser in Ohio and Kentucky on May 15th, and a fundraiser in Texas on May 22nd. Both events are scheduled to take place on Wednesday, a weekday for the former president. There is no need to appear in a New York courtroom for a hush money criminal trial.
On Friday, Trump’s top allies, including Johnson, Stefanik, RNC Chairman Michael Whatley and Lara Trump, and a number of Senate allies, including Rubio, Tim Scott and Blackburn, The congressman gave a presentation to an audience of more than 200 people gathered at the rally. Four Seasons, according to event attendees.
The presentation will discuss how to get the message across on abortion, which Trump acknowledged is a key vulnerability heading into November, the latest internal polling and the Trump campaign’s strategy to expand its electorate of black and Hispanic voters. Discussions were held.
One of the speakers also mentioned that millions of dollars have been siphoned from the Trump campaign to cover the former president’s legal costs, according to one attendee with direct knowledge of the remarks. He privately admitted that he was “throwing away money.”
Mr. Johnson’s attendance at the retreat is an opportunity to highlight his relationship with Mr. Trump ahead of a crucial vote to strip Mr. Johnson of the speaker’s gavel.
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced plans Wednesday to force a vote on Johnson’s ouster when lawmakers return to the Capitol next week, a move that Democrats hope will kill the effort and that Johnson will This move comes after he announced that he would vote to avoid losing. his job.
Mr. Trump has yet to publicly comment on the internal conflict, but he has been irritated by the uproar and has told advisers and aides that he sees it as a distraction that will damage the party’s image at a time when he wants intraparty conflict. He says he is doing so. He had the full focus and strength of the Republican Party behind him, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the comments.
His quiet annoyance this week when President Trump approached newly elected RNC Chairman Whatley to go to the Capitol to tell the House Republican conference that he has no interest in a divided party. Mr. Whatley’s comments reflected some of his concerns, a source familiar with Mr. Whatley’s comments said. .
Mr. Whatley, who serves as Trump’s special envoy, also met with Ms. Greene privately and privately signaled that the drama should be canceled, one of the people said.
Mr Johnson has previously used his relationship with Mr Trump to show solidarity as his job is threatened. Last month, he flew to Mar-a-Lago to join the former president for a news conference arranged by his team, during which Mr. Trump praised Mr. Johnson and acknowledged the challenges he faces in Congress.
“We get on very well with our speakers, and I get on very well with Marjorie. We have speakers who are voted on, but it’s been a complicated process. And for any chair… “I don’t think it’s an easy situation,” Trump told reporters at the time.
This story has been updated with new reporting.
CNN’s Aaron Perish, Kristen Holmes and Melanie Zanona contributed to this report.
