MONEY TALKS

Trump Wanted ‘Millions’ for 15-Minute Meeting With Business Execs

Trump sent his fundraising effort into overdrive, hosting various executives at Mar-a-Lago after he’d already been elected president.

President Donald Trump charged millions of dollars for a single 15-minute meeting and has privately boasted of making $500 million from deep-pocketed executives looking to gain his favor, according to the Wall Street Journal. The paper reported that Meredith O’Rourke, Trump’s top fundraiser, said a minutes-long sit down with the MAGA chief would sting into the millions. Meanwhile, the reported half-billion-dollar windfall, split across various committees and accounts, will be used “as a rainy-day fund,” the paper reported the president as saying, citing anonymous sources. Executives from the pharmaceutical, health-care, insurance, and technology sectors were among those tripping over themselves to bend the knee at Mar-a-Lago after Trump’s election victory, joining him for dinner in a “gold-covered, chandeliered dining room just off the lobby,” the Journal reported. “Everybody who is anybody went down,” said Kathryn Wylde, leader of the nonprofit CEO alliance Partnership for New York City. “It was a proactive effort to not be a target.” After the meetings, Trump would speak publicly about the issues raised. O’Rourke, the fundraising chief, declined a request for comment from the newspaper.