Trump is coming to Philadelphia for a fundraiser next month
News of the event came as Trump faces his fourth criminal indictment, a case that centers on his attempts to overturn 2020 election results.
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Former President Donald Trump is coming to Philadelphia next month for a fundraiser, according to an invitation circulating online.
The invitation was tweeted out by an account that identifies as “dedicated researchers monitoring and exposing right-wing extremism and other threats to democracy.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The contact for the event is a known GOP fundraiser who works with Trump’s Save America PAC but also did not immediately return a request for comment, and neither did representatives.
Rich Pruett, a longtime Trump supporter, told The Inquirer he received the invitation and heard the event will be at The Union League. Pruett had wavered in his allegiance amid the former president’s legal troubles earlier this summer but said Tuesday he’s fully behind Trump again.
Representatives for The Union League did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
News of the visit comes as Trump’s fourth criminal indictment dropped in Georgia on Monday, a case that centers on his attempt to overturn 2020 presidential election results.
Trump was last in Pennsylvania for a rally in Erie at the end of July. He bashed the cases against him on stage and repeated lies about election fraud in Pennsylvania.
He was in Philadelphia for the Moms for Liberty conference held in late June, an event that prompted sizable protests outside the Downtown Marriott. He visited Pat’s Steaks at the end of that trip.
Tickets for the Sept. 14 fundraiser are listed as $23,200 per couple, which includes a photo with Trump and a VIP reception; $6,600 for just the VIP reception; and $1,000 for general attendance. The money will go toward Trump’s joint fundraising committee, Trump Save America.
Trump held a fundraiser at The Union League in September 2016, with local GOP big names hosting. He gave a speech at the members-only club in Center City earlier that same month, where he promised to increase military spending. Protesters blocked Broad Street as he spoke inside.
An appearance in January by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at The Union League, drew large backlash from the city’s chapter of the NAACP and about 100 dues-paying members.
DeSantis received the historic club’s highest honor — a gold medal first awarded to President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 — during an evening reception and program.
The event went on as planned as demonstrators outside chanted “shame” and “racist” at anyone entering or leaving the club’s Sansom Street doors.
As Trump stares down four separate indictments, he has burned through campaign cash to pay legal fees. His joint fundraising committee brought in about $54 million in the first half of 2023, $25 million of which was spent on legal fees, according to campaign finance filings.
Pruett, who lives in Drexel Hill and works in insurance, said “Bidenomics,” the catchall term for President Joe Biden’s economic agenda, is preventing him from attending Trump’s fundraiser.
“We don’t have $2,000 to hand over, with the economy what it is.”