Trump Mar-a-lago event will go on TONIGHT but he's staying in D. C.

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Mar-a-Lago fundraiser to go on as scheduled; Trump stays in D.C.

President Donald Trump will not attend a $100,000-per-couple political fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach tonight because of the federal government shutdown.

“There is no plan to go to Florida while there is a shutdown,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told The Palm Beach Post.

The fundraiser will go on with presidential son Eric Trump, his wife Lara and McDaniel as hosts, the White House and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel said today.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/national-govt--politics/mar-lago-fundraiser-scheduled-trump-stays/vXOd2YKP5fblWV9ByhSa9J/

Trump plans gala at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night, again renting a ballroom from himself

By holding the event at his own club, Trump will be able to collect tens of thousands of dollars in fees for food, ballroom rental and other costs. In effect, he will have transformed his supporters' political donations into revenue for his business.

Federal election laws bar candidates from the "personal use" of campaign donations - a ban meant to stop candidates from buying things unrelated to their runs for office. If a purchase is a result of campaign activity, the government allows it.

How do those rules apply to an official, like Trump, who's renting lavish ballrooms from himself, at a for-profit club that is also his home and "Winter White House"?

"The prevailing view among election lawyers is that the law isn't violated so long as the campaign committee pays fair market value for the goods and services received from Mar-a-Lago," said Paul S. Ryan, a campaign finance expert at the government watchdog group Common Cause.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-trump-mar-a-lago-gala-20180120-story.html