Sheldon Adelson Gave $5 Million for Trump’s Inauguration, Filing Shows
Sheldon Adelson Gave $5 Million for Trump’s Inauguration, Filing Shows
By NICHOLAS FANDOS APRIL 19, 2017
Photohttps://static01.nyt.com/images/2017...-master768.jpg
Sheldon G. Adelson, center, and his wife, Miriam, with Stephen K. Bannon at the inauguration. CreditDamon Winter/The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Sheldon G. Adelson, the casino magnate and stalwart Republican donor, gave $5 million to support the festivities surrounding President Trump’s inauguration, according to federal election filings.
The gift was the largest single contribution ever given to an inauguration, but far from the only seven-figure check deposited by the committee responsible for carrying out much of the pomp leading up to Mr. Trump’s swearing-in.
A 510-page disclosure report filed with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday shows more than two dozen million-dollar checks from corporations and wealthy individuals, including Robert K. Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots and a close friend of Mr. Trump’s; Steven A. Cohen and Charles Schwab, both billionaire investors; and Robert R. Parsons, the founder of GoDaddy.com.
In previous inaugurations, individuals were allowed to make contributions only up to $250,000. Limits are set by the administrations themselves.
Altogether Mr. Trump raised $107 million for his inauguration, twice the previous fund-raising record, which was set by Barack Obama in 2009.
The inaugural committee announced its fund-raising total on Tuesday, but because it filed its report by hand, the document was not publicly available until Wednesday.
Some of the biggest checks came from corporate executives and businesses who would soon have major interests at stake under a Trump administration, from the energy sector to Wall Street. Other large contributions came from donors or interest groups who had held their noses when Mr. Trump won the Republican nomination — or even staunchly opposed him.
Their money flowed despite — and perhaps because of — Mr. Trump’s promises to “drain the swamp” of the sort of Washington corruption and influence-peddling that have shown little sign of abating in the first months of his presidency.
Mr. Trump’s inaugural committee is not required to report how it spent money on his inauguration festivities, which included more than 20 events and drew modest crowds. Nor do the documents reveal if any money was left over after the crowds returned home. (The committee said on Tuesday that it would donate any excess money to charities, which are still being selected.)
Because inaugural committees face few of the regulations that limit campaign fund-raising, it has traditionally been up to each administration to set its own restrictions.
George W. Bush, for example, capped gifts at $100,000 in 2001 and at $250,000 in 2005. Mr. Obama accepted only gifts up to $50,000 in 2009, while banning all gifts from lobbyists and corporations altogether. He relaxed those restrictions in 2013, accepting corporate gifts up to $1 million and individual gifts up to $250,000.
Mr. Trump, it appears, set comparatively loose restrictions, and did not limit how much individuals could give. His team said it would not solicit corporate donations over $1 million.
At the center of the inaugural effort was Thomas Barrack Jr., a private equity investor who is one of Mr. Trump’s closest and oldest friends. It was Mr. Barrack who hosted one of Mr. Trump’s first major fund-raisers at his Santa Monica, Calif., home last May, and who spoke in Cleveland the night Mr. Trump accepted the Republican nomination.
As inaugural chairman, Mr. Barrack oversaw a staff of several hundred people responsible for financing and planning the weeklong festivities. Shuttling among Los Angeles, Trump Tower in New York and Washington on his private jet, Mr. Barrack carefully attended to every detail and emerged as one of Mr. Trump’s chief liaisons to large portions of the business community who had shunned him.
The biggest donors received invitations to a slate of private, behind-the-scenes events in the week leading up to the inauguration, where they mingled with members of Mr. Trump’s inner circle. The exclusive events included dinners honoring Mr. Barrack, Vice President Pence, cabinet nominees and the first family. Mr. Trump made an appearance at each one.
Donors also received special access to the week’s more public events, from inaugural balls to the swearing-in itself. Some were even invited to use Mr. Trump’s new Washington hotel, just blocks from the White House, as an informal gathering place for the week.
Perhaps no donors were rewarded with greater access than the Adelsons, stalwarts of Republican fund-raising who threw their support behind Mr. Trump late in his campaign. Mr. Trump singled out the couple to thank them for their support during a luncheon honoring congressional Republicans on inauguration eve. The following morning, the pair sat along the aisle just a few rows back from Mr. Trump on the inaugural platform as he took the oath of office.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/u...ndraising.html
