Lincoln Fundraiser This Weekend

It seems that President Donald Trump will likely pay a visit to Mar-a-Lago on Friday while the Palm Beach County Republican Party is renting his ballroom for its annual Lincoln Day dinner for 700 donors, as first reported by the Palm Beach Daily News.

A “VIP Movement Notification,” usually the first sign of a presidential visit, has been issued for the Palm Beach area for Friday through Sunday. The county GOP, which had previously invited the media to cover its Lincoln Day fundraiser, reversed course Monday and announced that the dinner will now be a “closed press” event.

Since 2013, the Palm Beach County GOP has hosted its Lincoln Day fundraiser in the Donald J. Trump Grand Ballroom at Mar-a-Lago every year. Trump attended both the 2016 and 2016 dinners.

Lincoln Fundraiser This Weekend

In 2016, Trump, then the front runner for the Republican presidential nomination, used his Lincoln Day appearance to announce that he would release a written list of judges from which he would choose Supreme Court nominees if he was elected President. This pledge was key to winning over some conservatives who were skeptical of Trump’s candidacy. 

The past two years, Trump has been in Washington during the annual fundraiser at his Palm Beach resort. The county GOP reported a payment to Mar-a-Lago of $207,141 for last year’s dinner, which was headlined by Sarah Palin and featured an appearance by Donald Trump Jr. at a pre-dinner reception. 

This year’s keynote speaker is U.S. Republican Sen. Lindey Graham of South Carolina, former critic and current ally of President Trump. Graham is a close friend of the late Sen. John McCain and defended McCain—but didn’t mention the President—after Trump ripped McCain in a series of tweets over the weekend.

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Graham tweeted: “As to @SenJohnMcCain and his devotion to his country: He stepped forward to risk his life for his country, served honorably under difficult circumstances, and was one of the most consequential senators in the history of the body…Nothing about his service will ever be changed or diminished.”