Donald Trump, 2016 Republican presidential nominee, left, speaks during a fireside chat with John Paulson, president of The Economic Club of New York, at the Economic Club of New York in New York, U.S., on Sept. 15, 2016.
John Taggart | Bloomberg | Getty Images
President Donald Trump is set to attend a big-money fundraiser Saturday at the home of one of his closest Wall Street allies.
Billionaire former hedge fund manager John Paulson will host Trump at his home in swanky Southampton on Long Island, N.Y., according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. Tickets for the dinner event are priced up to $500,000 per couple, an invitation says.
These people declined to be named as Paulson had yet to be publicly identified as one of the hosts.
According to the website Virtual Globetrotting, which tracks where luminaries live, Paulson’s property was once known as the “Old Trees.” It’s described on the website as a “gated estate of 10.4 acres — a private park, really — with a 15,000-square-foot 1911 Georgian mansion, guesthouse, barn, pool, and tennis court overlooking Lake Agawam, in the heart of Southampton Village.”
Paulson and the Trump campaign did not return requests for comment.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the state of New York only allows social gatherings of up to 50 people, while Gov. Andrew Cuomo has continued to call on people across the state to stay socially distant and wear masks. The Hamptons are home to some of the wealthiest business executives in the country.
Republican officials recently told CNBC that all fundraiser attendees must test negative for Covid-19 on the day of the event, complete a wellness questionnaire and pass a temperature screening.
Paulson, who used to run Paulson & Co., recently returned money to his investors and turned the business into a private investment firm only for his family’s money, The Wall Street Journal reported last month.
Forbes reports that Paulson has a net-worth of just over $4 billion. He has hosted events for the president in the past.
The proceeds for this weekend’s gatherings, which include a seperate event featuring Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, is expected to raise $15 million for the Trump Victory committee, a joint fundraising operation between the campaign the Republican National Committee. Paulson has given over $330,000 to the committee in the 2020 election cycle, Federal Election Commission records show.
A spokesman for the RNC declined to comment.
The president is taking part in his campaign’s fundraising swing after recently outraising Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, last month.
Trump’s campaign recently announced that it, combined with the RNC, outraised their opponents in July. Trump and the RNC brought in $165 million last month while Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, and the Democratic National Committee, raised $140 million. Trump and his team went into August with a slight cash-on-hand advantage over Biden of $300 million.
Public polling shows Biden ahead of Trump by just over six points, according a Real Clear Politics polling average.
