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Former President Donald Trump hosted a whopping $75,000-per-head fundraiser at the Kentucky Derby before he made a public appearance to see 80-to-1 longshot horse Rich Strike’s historic win on Saturday.
Trump attended the first leg of the Triple Crown Saturday to host a fundraiser for Trump-supporting Super PAC “MAGA, Again!” in the home state of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — whose relationship with the ex-president has grown rocky.
McConnell refused to support Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
The 45th president was greeted with chants of “USA” as he appeared on a massive big-screen TV at Churchill Downs about 20 minutes before the 148th Kentucky Derby kicked off, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
At one point during the fundraiser, he popped out from his suite to throw cash to spectators down below, according to the New York Times.
The fundraiser, which was first reported by The Times two weeks ago, was attended by PAC leaders Pam Bondi, Richard Grenell and Matt Whitaker and Kimberly Guilfoyle — a conservative TV personality who’s engaged to Donald Trump Jr., according to an invitation for the event.
The president has bestowed McConnell the nickname “Old Crow Mitch” or “Broken Old Crow,” in recent months. The senator, who has represented Kentucky in the Senate since 1986, has shrugged off the president’s attacks. McConnell called Old Crow “his favorite bourbon” in reference to Old Crow Bourbon, which has been produced in Kentucky since 1835 and is distilled by Beam Suntory.
McConnell didn’t visit the Derby and instead attended a memorial for Sen. Orrin Hatch in Utah — a friend of the minority leader who died last month at the age of 88, the Times reported.
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