Attendees are shelling out millions for an opportunity to dine and engage with President Donald Trump at exclusive gatherings held at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
Business executives can arrange a private audience with the president at Mar-a-Lago for a staggering $5,000,000, according to sources familiar with the meetings. At a recent Candlelight Dinner this past Saturday, potential guests were invited to pay $1,000,000 for a seat, based on an invitation obtained by WIRED.
“You are invited to a candlelight dinner featuring special guest President Donald J. Trump,” the invitation proclaims, under a “MAGA INC.” banner. MAGA Inc, or Make America Great Again Inc, is a super PAC that supported Trump’s 2024 presidential bid. “Further details will be provided upon RSVP. Responses will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis. Space is extremely limited. $1,000,000 per person.”
Invitees were instructed to RSVP to Meredith O’Rourke, who has served as national finance director and senior advisor at Donald J. Trump for President 2024, a campaign organization, and is the owner of The O’Rourke Group, which O’Rourke describes on her LinkedIn profile as a “Republican political fundraiser.” Guests were also directed to contact Abby Mathis, the finance coordinator at MAGA Inc. Mathis previously worked as a staff assistant for senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama—a former Auburn University football coach—and also held an internship at the White House office of the staff secretary, as documented by LegiStorm, a research organization that collects data on politicians and their staffers.
O’Rourke and Mathis did not respond promptly to requests for comments, nor did the White House.
The invitation explicitly states that “Donald J. Trump is appearing at this event solely as a featured speaker, and is not soliciting funds or donations.” The event took place at 7:00 PM on March 1 and was noted on the president’s official calendar as the “MAGA INC. Candlelight Finance Dinner.” This marks the only event by that title on Trump’s official schedule since he assumed office.
Michael Solakiewicz, a pro-Trump digital content creator, shared images from the event on Instagram. WIRED has also seen photographs and videos of Elon Musk with his son X at Mar-a-Lago the next day during a charity event hosted by a group named Wine Women & Shoes, which also featured Trump.
“It’s everyone else who’s missing out,” a Trump ally with knowledge of the meetings mentions, pointing to latecomers in the Trump agenda. The individual specifically referenced the tech industry, where leaders have rushed to display loyalty to the new administration. Notably, X owner Elon Musk contributed at least $260 million to support Trump, while other technology firms and executives collectively donated millions to Trump’s inauguration fund: Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos, Meta, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Uber, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman all contributed $1,000,000 each.
The $5 million private meetings have become a “hot commodity” in the business realm, according to a source well-informed about them.
