Why was Donald Trump in Lexington instead of court? It’s all about the money

Former president and current presumed GOP nominee Donald Trump was in Lexington on Wednesday for a $25,000 minimum per-couple fundraiser.

The dinner’s timing is likely not coincidental. Trump has Wednesdays off from his ongoing criminal trial in New York, where he’s been charged with falsifying business records related to hush money payments for an adult-film actress during his successful 2016 election.

The event was hosted by Joe and Kelly Craft, GOP mega-donors based in Lexington.

Trump also held a fundraiser in Cincinnati, Ohio earlier Wednesday. Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, who’s considered by many to be a Trump running mate contender.

Kelly Craft is the former Trump-appointed U.S. ambassador to Canada and later to the United Nations during Trump’s presidency. Her husband, Joe, is a billionaire coal magnate and philanthropist native of the commonwealth..

Of note, after an invitation was circulated with the Crafts co-hosting alongside Barbara Banke, the owner of Kendall-Jackson Wine in California’s Sonoma County and head of Central Kentucky’s Stonestreet Horse Farm, a spokesperson for Kendall-Jackson told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat that Banke’s name appeared on the invitation “without her consent.”

A spokesperson for Banke emphasized to the Herald-Leader that she was not hosting the event or connected to it any way.

Banke’s farm has become a high-profile pit stop for prominent area Republicans, though she also contributed in-kind to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s inaugural committee. She’s made federal political contributions on both sides of the aisle, according to the Federal Elections Commission.

The prominent California-based entrepreneur and philanthropist’s family was valued at around $2.4 billion in 2015.

According to fine print at the bottom of the original invitation, all paying attendees will be funding an account that spent more than $50 million last year footing Trump’s various legal bills.

A donation of $100,000 per couple is required to co-host the event, which includes one “roundtable opportunity.” Host committee members who pay $250,000 per couple get two such roundtable opportunities and VIP seating. The same goes for “chairs,” a designation that would cost $844,600 per couple.

A spokesperson for Kelly Craft told the Herald-Leader the event was closed to media and did not offer any details beyond what’s included in the brochure.

Eric Deters, a Northern Kentucky Republican politician who has shelled out serious cash to attend Trump events in the past, said he’s not going to the Lexington event.

Deters, who finished in fourth place behind Craft in the 2023 GOP primary, said much of his time has been spent on preparing for his Freedom Fest event, a conservative rally that has featured Trump’s sons in the past. He’d previously sparred with Craft on the debate stage during the primary, for which he said he’s tried to make amends.

“I have no plans to go, but I hope it is a great success and they raise a lot of money,” Deters said. “I literally have no idea who will go. Nobody invited me, which doesn’t shock me because it involves Kelly Craft.”

A spokesperson for Vivek Ramaswamy, a former presidential candidate and Trump surrogate who has a relationship with the Crafts, told the Herald-Leader that he would be in Chicago, not Lexington, on Wednesday.

A spokesperson for Rep. Andy Barr, R-KY, who represents Lexington, did not respond to an inquiry on whether he’d be in attendance for the event.

The U.S. Congress is currently in session, limiting some lawmakers’ ability to attend.

First Congressional District James Comer, R-KY, won’t be there, but his chief of staff said he’s still supporting the event.

“Congressman Comer has to be in D.C. tonight for committee work and other official business, but is contributing to the Trump event in Lexington,” Comer chief of staff Caroline Cash told the Herald-Leader.

Jonathan Levin, a spokesperson for the Kentucky Democratic Party, lampooned Trump for his legal woes. $5,000 of each ticket will go to Save America PAC, which spent more than $50 million in legal and investigation-related bills for Trump in 2023.

“Indictments — four to be exact — don’t come cheap. That’s why Donald Trump is headed to Lexington tomorrow night for a glitzy fundraiser, hoping that donors can foot the bill for his legal fees,” Levin wrote. “We’re not going to object if Trump wants to continue hoodwinking millionaires into paying for his lawyers, but we hope that the next fundraiser steers clear of our Commonwealth.”

The Crafts share a fossil fuel background with a group that recently met with Trump: Oil executives. According to the Washington Post, Trump vowed at a closed-door meeting with executives at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to immediately reverse dozens of Democratic President Joe Biden’s environmental regulations.

He asked the oil executives to contribute $1 billion toward his election, noting that it would be a “deal” for them.

U.S. House Democrats recently launched a probe into the matter.

Deters said it makes sense that the Crafts are all-in on supporting Trump for the presidency given their vast wealth and ties to coal.

“The bottom line is, when you’re in a situation like Joe Craft and the odds are that Trump’s going to be president, you ante up again,” he said.