Trump to headline $100K-per-plate Bedminster fundraiser for Rudy Giuliani’s legal defense
Former President Donald Trump will headline a $100,000-a-plate dinner for his Georgia election fraud co-defendant Rudy Giuliani next month, aimed at raising money for the former mayor’s mounting legal bills.
An invite to the Sept. 7 event at the 77-year-old former president’s Bedminster, N.J., country club notes the six-figure admission price to an evening “round table with President Trump and Mayor Giuliani” to be followed by “dinner with America’s Mayor.”
The event is being organized by the Giuliani Defense political action committee, according to CNBC.
The fundraiser is expected to be attended by at least a dozen guests and raise nearly $1 million, the outlet reported Wednesday.
Giuliani, 79, reportedly has racked up nearly $3 million in legal expenses related to criminal investigations, private lawsuits and legal disciplinary proceedings as a consequence of his efforts to keep Trump in office after his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, according to the New York Times.
The skyrocketing costs have pushed Giuliani to a “financial breaking point,” according to the outlet.
Trump reportedly was asked to attend at least two fundraisers for Giuliani by the former mayor’s son Andrew during a meeting in Bedminster earlier this month, a request to which the former president agreed.
“It is helpful that President Trump has agreed to headline two events, one on September 7 at Bedminster and another this winter at Mar-a-Lago, where we are getting strong donor interest,” Andrew Giuliani told CNBC in a statement.
Trump’s political action committee, which has been covering the attorney fees of many of the former president’s allies, reportedly has paid $340,000 of Giuliani’s legal tab, but has not sent any money since late May.
Giuliani was indicted Aug. 14 by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on 13 counts, including violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, stemming from his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
The former mayor and federal prosecutor turned himself in to authorities at the Fulton County Jail on Wednesday and was released on $150,000 bond.
Willis has given defendants until noon Friday to surrender and has requested a March 4 trial start date in the case.
The Trump camp and Giuliani did not immediately return requests for comment.
