‘Coffee With Ivanka’ Fundraising Auction Abruptly Canceled

Ivanka Trump, daughter of President-elect Donald Trump, waits for an elevator as she arrives as at Trump Tower, Monday, Nov. 21, 2016 in New York. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

An auction offering the highest bidder “30-45 minutes” of time to meet with Ivanka Trump was cancelled Friday after it came under scrutiny.

According to a report by the New York Times, the fundraiser was cancelled after questions were raised by ethics experts about the special access to the incoming first family it appeared to offer bidders.

Earlier Friday, the Times reported that many of those who had placed bids on the auction wanted access to Ivanka Trump in order to communicate with her father’s incoming administration. The charity fundraising page was taken down without explanation later the same day.

The fundraiser said the money raised would go to the Eric Trump Foundation to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. According to the Times’ report, bidding reached $77,888 before the page was removed.

The Trump Organization said in a statement obtained by the Times that the Trump family waited to take action on the fundraiser until “our team was aligned on steps moving forward.”

“Today, the only people that lost are the children of St. Jude,” a statement from Eric Trump read, as quoted by the Times.

Trump family spokeswoman Amanda Miller did not respond to a question from the Times on why Eric Trump did not simply donate the money himself.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for dwward dwward says:

    Ahhh. The Eric Trump Foundation. Of course.

  2. Drumpf shut it down because it would interfere with torrid valuable daddy-daughter time. People are saying he was very passionate about this decision.

  3. “St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital”, aka Trump’s personal checking account.

  4. In all truth, St. Jude’s was probably responsible for shutting this down. It’s an organization that values the integrity of and commitment to its mission like few others.

  5. “Today, the only people that lost are the children of St. Jude,” only if the money was going directly to the charity. You are not supposed to take a ‘commission’ for your own bogus foundation.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

90 more replies

Participants

Avatar for austin_dave Avatar for silvrfox Avatar for dwward Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for navamske Avatar for inlabsitrust Avatar for mantan Avatar for theghostofeustacetilley Avatar for longtimeobserver Avatar for serendipitoussomnambulist Avatar for darrtown Avatar for benthere Avatar for tena Avatar for beattycat Avatar for pmaroneyb Avatar for edhedh Avatar for just_observing Avatar for biggreeonones Avatar for rickjones Avatar for susanintheoc Avatar for tiowally Avatar for burdyblue Avatar for centralasiaexpat Avatar for drwho

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: