Donald Trump will meet with billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson before Tuesday evening’s Republican debate in Las Vegas, according to a Politico report.
The GOP frontrunner’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, confirmed to Politico that the pair were scheduled to meet but did not elaborate on the subject of their discussion.
Adelson, one of the largest donors to the Republican Party, also will hold court with other GOP presidential candidates in town for the debate, which will be held at his Venetian hotel and casino. He is not expected to make a formal endorsement in the Republican primary until next year.
The Guardian and Politico published reports in October suggesting that Adelson was poised to make a multi-million dollar donation to a Super PAC affiliated with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). Trump took to Twitter to mock the Florida senator for allowing himself to be bought by large donors, calling him a “perfect little puppet.”
Sheldon Adelson is looking to give big dollars to Rubio because he feels he can mold him into his perfect little puppet. I agree!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2015
Trump’s disavowal of the role of big money in politics has been a cornerstone of his campaign. He has repeatedly told voters that his 2016 run has been self-financed and that he is an “outsider” removed from the backroom brokering of Beltway politics.
The $4 million in outside donor contributions Trump has received far outpace the $2 million he has spent of his own money thus far, according to the Sunlight Foundation, a non-profit that looks at the influence of money in politics.
