FIRST ON FOX: Longtime Democrat fundraiser and Kamala Harris critic Lindy Li was named this month to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fundraising committee, an about-face that she says has been met with overwhelming assist from donors, together with from some longtime contributors to the Democratic Celebration vying to get a spot on the desk.
Li’s appointment to the Trump fundraising committee was previewed solely to Fox Information Digital. It comes simply weeks after Li introduced her resolution to go away the Democratic Celebration final month, citing what she described as its broader tradition of finger-pointing, vitriol and blame within the aftermath of the 2024 elections.
Li herself endured a torrent of criticism and calls to exit the get together after she criticized sure spending selections made by Harris’s marketing campaign, regardless of having raised hundreds of thousands on its behalf and donating a number of Philadelphia-area buildings to the marketing campaign. She in flip voiced considerations about get together management “allowing no dissent, no criticism” and failing to be taught from their large losses within the Home, Senate and presidential elections.
For Li, her departure from the DNC’s nationwide fundraising committee has been an eye-opening one. She advised Fox Information in an interview this week that she was accredited as a member of Trump’s inaugural fundraising committee simply three days earlier than lots of the occasions reached capability, forcing the committee to dam entry, if just for the near-term, in hopes of securing an even bigger venue.
When she advised the donors that they had been at capability, she famous, some responded by doubling their supply in hopes of gaining entry.
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President-elect Donald Trump and spouse Melania Trump stroll alongside Pennsylvania Avenue earlier than his swearing-in for his first time period. Trump is making ready for his second inauguration in 2025, for which he has raked in record-high fundraising numbers. (Evan Vucci/USA Right now Community)
“The demand has simply been unprecedented,” Li stated of the response from donors. “Truthfully, Biden and Harris by no means had this subject. They by no means needed to flip individuals away.”
Fox Information Digital was advised that donors providing as a lot as $1 million to the inaugural committee have been turned away as a result of house limitations, as first reported by the New York Instances. Since then, the inaugural committee stated they’re working to discover a larger location for among the occasions to be able to meet the extraordinary and rising demand.
Up to now, Trump’s inaugural committee has raised a record-shattering $170 million in donations, with proceeds used to fund each the inauguration weekend and longer-term tasks, comparable to a presidential library.
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Lindy Li seen in a 2015 picture (Charles Ommanney/Washington Publish by way of Getty Photographs)
For donors, their contribution earns them entry to an inauguration weekend agenda of extremely unique VIP occasions earlier than the Inauguration Day ceremony, together with intimate dinners, black-tie galas and sit-downs with Cupboard nominees. It is a possibility to make inroads and achieve affect in an incoming administration.
And forward of Trump’s second time period, many are shelling out big-time to take action.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are all among the many tech executives who introduced throughout the previous month that they plan to donate no less than $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund.
For Li, a distinguished fundraiser whose expertise is essentially rooted within the Democrat world, pivoting to elevating cash for Trump’s inauguration has been simpler than anticipated.
Li previously served as a member of the DNC’s nationwide fundraising committee, a membership that requires elevating “hundreds of thousands of {dollars}” on behalf of Democrat candidates.
Nonetheless, she stated, the inaugural committee donations and enthusiasm surrounding them feels unprecedented.
“I’ve by no means seen something like this,” Li stated in an interview of the funding raised, which might roughly triple the quantity raised by Biden in 2021 and exceeds Trump’s first inaugural committee, which raised roughly $117 million.
The committee is anticipating donations to climb larger to upwards of $200 million, in response to estimates shared with Fox Information Digital.
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Lindy Li, a former DNC finance committee member, speaks to ‘Fox & Buddies Weekend’ after the 2024 elections. (Fox Information)
Requested whether or not it was tough to construct out a base of Republican donors lower than a month after leaving the Democratic Celebration, Li advised Fox Information that she is coping with lots of the identical monetary contributors.
“These are Democratic donors,” she stated.
Whereas Li famous they are not among the many most liberal Democrat donors she has labored with, “They’re nonetheless donating,” she stated.
“They’re nonetheless so keen and keen to return to the desk.”
Many, she stated, share within the perception that Trump has been “nice for the business community” and hope to construct on that in future conversations with the administration.
And even donors who’ve been wait-listed or turned down from attending the VIP occasions in the course of the inaugural weekend as a result of lack of house have expressed curiosity in working with the administration sooner or later.
Simply yesterday, she stated, a donor famous, “‘You already know, even when we will not cannot come this time, please tell us the following time that we will present our assist.'”
The reception as an entire has been “overwhelmingly optimistic,” Li stated of the response from donors. “The passion is simply by the stratosphere.”
