Former President Donald Trump is set to boost his 2024 presidential campaign with a high-ticket fundraiser scheduled for Saturday at the Newtown Athletic Club.
The event in Newtown Township will run from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and has generated significant interest from local Republicans.
Several area Republicans who have seen the invitation said it will cost $2,500 to get in and packages that go up to $250,000 were listed. The various tiers will offer donors differing levels of access to Trump, with some including a photo opportunity.
A GOP source said event is anticipated to pull in more than $1 million for Trump’s campaign and affiliated fundraising bodies. There are expected to be 150 to 300 people attending.
The Trump campaign did not comment on the expected fundraising haul. Worthington’s voicemail box was full.
The fundraiser is hosted by Newtown Athletic Club owner Jim Worthington and his wife, Kim Levins, along with co-hosts Debra and Dom Caglioti, and Adam Kidan, a wealthy GOP donor who previously pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy in connection with an early 2000s political scandal.
Credit: Tom Sofield/NewHopeFreePress.com
The fundraiser has been coordinated jointly by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee.
Trump will arrived by Secret Service motorcade and spend about two hours at the fundraiser before departing.
Newtown Township Chief of Police John Hearn said Penns Trail Road from the Newtown Bypass to Pheasant Run will be closed during the event, but local businesses will have full access to the area from Newtown-Yardley Road. There will be additional “short, sporadic road closures” due to motorcade movements.
Supporters for the former president and presumptive GOP nominee for this year’s election plan to rally for Trump on the roads surrounding the Newtown Athletic Club.
“At this time, we are unaware of any organized counter protests groups or rallies planned. Newtown Police and our law enforcement partners will continue to monitor information received and adjust the planning as necessary to ensure the public safety of the Newtown community,” Hearn said.
Newtown Athletic Club members were initially informed of an early closure on Saturday, but this has since been updated to a full-day closure.
The Saturday fundraiser precedes a free rally that Trump will hold at 7 p.m. in North Whitehall Township, Lehigh County.
Worthington, a prominent supporter of Trump, Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, and other Republican politicians, has previously hosted Trump at an adjacent sports facility in 2016 and participated in a 2020 campaign stop in Upper Makefield Township.
It is unclear if Fitzpatrick plans to attend the fundraiser, and a spokesperson for the lawmaker’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment earlier this week. The congressman was endorsed by Trump in 2020, which Fitzpatrick later refused to talk about.
In the past, Worthington hosted fundraisers for Fitzpatrick with GOP advisor and commentator Karl Rove and former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The former president is seeking to narrow the financial gap with Democratic President Joe Biden’s reelection efforts. Last week, the GOP reported raising over $65.6 million in March, with Trump’s campaign ending the month with $93.1 million. Biden and the Democrats reported a March haul of more than $90 million, with $192 million in the bank for the campaign.
The Bucks County stop comes just two days before jury selection begins in Trump’s New York state trial for “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election.”
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