President Trump is reportedly dining with top political supporters at a private residence Wednesday night, and the move is raising concerns about campaign finance impropriety.
The president took a step outside his normal routine on Wednesday to attend a dinner outside the White House with board members of the pro-Trump nonprofit America First Policies and other top political supporters in what a White House official described as a political event, but not a fundraiser.
The dinner took place at a Georgetown mansion in Washington, D.C., owned by America First Policies executive director, Boyden Gray, who formerly served in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. Other guests in attendance include the group’s president, Brian Walsh, and oil billionaire Harold Hamm, according to CNN.
Earlier this week, a representative from AFP told CNBC that as a tax-exempt nonprofit, it works to maintain “very clear lines and high walls” to separate its work from the White House. Their tax status prohibits them from coordinating with campaigns and candidates as well as direct political activity.
But according to the nonprofit watchdog group Common Cause, AFP violated campaign finance laws that require them to disclose money spent on elections and campaigns.
“There’s ample reason to believe that President Trump and his outside groups are illegally coordinating their fundraising and other activities, including flagrant violations of the soft money rules,” said Common Cause chief of strategy Stephen Spaulding.
Spaulding, who formerly served as a Federal Election Commission special counsel, said the dinner is a “clear” example of that violation.
“As the guest list for tonight’s dinner makes clear, America First Policies’ supposedly ‘high walls and sharp lines’ are an absurd defense,” he said. “Any ‘high walls’ that exist between this group and the Trump campaign have gaping holes in them, which Trump is driving a truck through.”
Brendan Fischer, an election law expert, said in the CNBC report that the private dinner is essentially a way for the Trump administration to give their blessings to the organization and signal to financial interests that they can buy influence with the White house through AFP.
The White House would not publicly discuss the meeting, which did appear on Trump’s public schedule, beyond a statement to the press pool. White House deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters said, “Tonight the President will be having dinner with a small group of supporters at a private residence in town.”
