President Donald Trump met with the conservative billionaire kingmaker David Koch and his brother William on Saturday at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, while they dined with Newsmax CEO and Trump ally Christopher Ruddy.
Politico first reported the meeting, described as an “agreeable” discussion, according to three unnamed sources with knowledge of the conversation, and confirmed it with a spokesperson for Koch Industries.
Charles and David Koch, who fund a plethora of conservative and libertarian political action committees and think tanks, did not actively oppose Trump during the 2016 election. But they did withhold support that may have gone to another Republican presidential nominee. (William Koch supported Trump financially, but is not involved in his two brothers’ political organizations.)
“At this point I can’t support either candidate, but I’m certainly not going to support Hillary,” Charles Koch said in August at a summit with donors.
Trump had preempted that sentiment two days earlier:
I turned down a meeting with Charles and David Koch. Much better for them to meet with the puppets of politics, they will do much better!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2016
During Trump’s young presidency, Koch groups have opposed some high-profile agenda items: Americans for Prosperity, the Koch’s flagship group, opposed Trump’s effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, the American Health Care Act.
And on Monday, The Hill reported, the same group released another volley in the brothers’ fierce campaign against the border adjustment tax, floated as part of Republicans’ package of changes to the tax code.
Still, Koch-funded and affiliated groups supported Trump publicly during the campaign in television appearances, and several members of Trump’s transition team and administration have connections to the Kochs. David Koch even reportedly attended the president’s Election Day victory party.
The Kochs aren’t new to Mar-a-Lago, either: William Koch is a club member. And in late December, Trump similarly stopped by Ruddy’s dinner table at the club and spoke briefly with him and his guests — David Koch and his wife, Julia.
After reports that Mar-a-Lago had doubled its yearly membership fee to $200,000, Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Tom Udall (D-NM) called on Trump to make the club’s membership and guest lists public. And the MAR-A-LAGO Act (“Making Access Records Available to Lead American Government Openness”), introduced in the House and Senate in late March, would require Trump to publish visitor logs for the White House or “any other location at which the President or the Vice President regularly conducts official business.”
