Trump’s top inauguration donors to be rewarded with dinners and access

Top donors to Donald Trump’s inauguration committee will be rewarded with dinners alongside the president-elect and his wife Melania before and after their return to the White House, according to multiple reports.

An “elegant and intimate dinner with President Donald J Trump and Mrs Melania Trump” on 19 January, the night before Trump’s swearing-in, has been billed as the “pinnacle event”, according to details sent to donors this week.

The details were set out on a flier previewing the inaugural activities first reported by the New York Times.

Privileged access is being given to those who donate $1m or raise $2m - sums that will also earn invites to an 18 January dinner hosted by JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, as well as a reception with Trump’s cabinet picks.

The most generous donors will also gain entry to an inter-faith “One America, One Light Sunday Service” that will also be attended by Trump and Melania and will feature brass bands, the Hill reported.

Elite donors will receive half-a-dozen tickets for entry to eight exclusive inauguration events over three days up to Trump’s swearing-in on 20 January. Those will include access to the black-tie “Starlight Ball” with the Trumps and Vances on the Monday evening, following the inauguration.

The noted presence of Melania Trump is the first confirmation that she will participate in the festivities.

Extensive access is also being given to those who give $500,000 or raise $1m, although they will receive fewer tickets.

The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for more details of the benefits for donors.

Trump’s inauguration committee is being jointly led by Kelly Loeffler, a former Republican senator from Georgia, and Steve Witkoff, a billionaire property developer who was playing golf with the president-elect at his club in Palm Beach, Florida, on 15 September when a suspected second assassination attempt against him was foiled by a Secret Service agent.

Witkoff, who has donated around $2m to Trump’s political causes, was recently named special envoy to the Middle East in the upcoming administration.

Donors to Trump were previously the subject of a criminal investigation in the aftermath of Trump’s first inauguration in 2017; there had been suspicions of illegal donations being funnelled to it by foreigners seeking to buy influence.

A California venture capitalist, Imaad Zuberi, subsequently received a 12-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to charges that included obstructing the investigation into a near-$1m donation to Trump’s first inaugural committee.