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Former president Donald Trump’s political group sent at least 15 emails in recent weeks offering small-dollar donors the chance to win a coveted prize if they gave money: dinner with Trump in New Orleans last Saturday. “We booked you a plane ticket,” one of the pitches said, complete with a photo of Trump superimposed in the French Quarter, beneath the dangling trademark ferns. “Contribute ANY AMOUNT RIGHT NOW to be automatically entered to have dinner with President Trump in New Orleans.”
Another pitch promised a full suite of perks. “We’ll cover your flight. We’ll cover your very nice hotel. We’ll cover your dinner,” the email promised, along with a picture with Trump. “All you have to do is enter.”
A third pitch said: “He REALLY wants to meet you, Friend, which is why he’s holding (1) spot on the entry list for YOU only.” Some of the emails came from an account labeled “Dinner with Trump” that was set up by the former president’s leadership PAC, Save America.
But no such winner was flown to New Orleans last weekend, according to four people familiar with the matter. No flight or “very nice” hotel was booked. Trump had no individual meeting with a small-dollar donor, instead only privately greeting a handful of Republican Party donors who gave large checks, taking pictures with some of the party’s most well-heeled members and speaking to a larger group of donors who each gave tens of thousands of dollars.
Legal experts and former prosecutors said the question is whether the author of the fundraising solicitations knew there would never be a dinner with Trump. If so, the solicitations could be legally questionable, said Peter R. Zeidenberg, a former federal prosecutor in D.C. and now a partner at ArentFox Schiff. “If, on the other hand, they had planned a dinner but it fell through, then that’s definitely not a crime.”
Grifters gonna do what grifters do..