Top line
A fundraiser to be held in September at former President Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, will raise money for people facing charges in connection with the attack on the Capitol on January 6. It is uncertain whether Trump will attend the event, however: Campaign officials told several media outlets that he would not be there, although one organizer told Forbes that it was almost certain that the former president would appear.
The event is scheduled for September 5. (Photo by Adam Gray/Getty Images)
Key data
Proceeds from the September 5 event, for which tickets start at $1,500 and are being billed as the “J6 Awards Gala,” will go to the Stand in the Gap Foundation, a nonprofit organization that is funding the legal fees of the January 6 defendants.
Trump’s campaign told Axios on Thursday that the former president would not attend the event. However, LJ Fino, producer of the Jan. 6 inmates’ chart-topping song “Justice For All” and organizer of the event, told Forbes, “President Trump will 99.99% be there.”
An appearance by Trump would not be unprecedented, as the former president also attended a fundraiser for the Jan. 6 defendants at his golf club in Bedminster last year, according to NBC News, and told those in attendance that he would make a donation to the legal aid fund supporting the defendants.
According to Vote Your Vision, one of the event’s organizers, general admission tickets to the fundraiser cost $1,500, individual VIP tickets cost $2,500 and VIP table tickets start at $30,000.
Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani was among the invited guests alongside Trump and will also be in attendance, according to Fino. He noted that former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and former Trump adviser Peter Navarro were also invited.
The event will also present plaques to members of the J6 Prison Choir who contributed to “Justice For All,” a collaboration with Trump that topped the Billboard Digital Song Sales chart in March with 33,000 downloads.
Fino said organizers believed Trump’s Bedminster Golf Club was the most appropriate venue for the event, citing the frequency with which the former president visited the club this summer.
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Surprising fact
The Stand in the Gap Foundation was co-founded by Sarah McAbee, the wife of a former Tennessee sheriff who is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for his involvement in a “prolonged attack by multiple assailants on police officers” at the Capitol, the New York Times reported.
tangent
The event is scheduled for the same day that U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan will rule on how to proceed in Trump’s election fraud case. The Supreme Court ruled in July that Trump enjoys a certain immunity from prosecution for actions committed while in office as president.
Important background
Trump has advocated for the Jan. 6 defendants in the past, calling many “hostages” and “incredible patriots” who should be released from prison. He has also promised to release the Jan. 6 rioters as one of his first acts as president if he is elected to a second term in November. As of January 2024, more than 1,265 defendants have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack, according to the Justice Department, with about 749 of those people convicted. The former president has also performed “Justice For All” at some of his events. In the song, Trump recites the Pledge of Allegiance mixed with about 20 members of the J6 prison choir, who recorded their lines from prison phones, and sings the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Critics have linked Trump’s inflammatory speech on Jan. 6, 2021, to incitement of violence, when the former president refused to accept his defeat to President Joe Biden and told his supporters, “If you don’t fight like crazy, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” The subsequent march and insurrection at the Capitol left five people dead. Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges related to his alleged efforts to overturn the election results.
More information
Song “Trump And J6 Prison Choir” sells “impressive” 22,500 digital downloads (Forbes)
Trump lands at number 1 with “Justice For All,” a song recorded together with those arrested on January 6 (Forbes)
Zach Everson contributed to this report.
