Last Saturday, at President Donald Trump's Mar Arago Club, an invitation to a “Candle Light” dinner asked future guests to spend $1 million per seat. According to multiple photos and videos of the event Wired saw, Trump joined Elon Musk for dinner.
Elon Musk, wearing a standard uniform in a black sports coat over a black T-shirt, was seen waving and waving to the other attendees. He was with a woman wearing a floor-length gown, according to Instagram reels posted by multiple guests. Zilis, a Neuralink executive who previously sat on Openai's board of directors, is the mother of four of Musk's 14 known children. (Zilis did not respond to requests for comment immediately.)
Musk, who had looted federal agencies over the past six weeks by the so-called government efficiency agency, sat next to Trump at dinner.
Wired previously reported on another candlelight dinner held on March 1st. There, guests were also invited to spend $1 million per person. The event was featured on the president's public schedule with a memo that reads, “The President will be participating in MagaInc. CandlelightFinance Dinner.” The candlelight dinner on March 15th did not appear on the official schedule.
“I will be invited to a candlelight dinner featuring special guest speaker President Donald J. Trump,” the invitation obtained by Wired said. “$1,000,000 per person.” The invitation includes “Maga Inc.” The note at the bottom of the header and invitation reads, “Donald J. Trump appears only as a special guest speaker at the event and does not seek funds or donations.” Maga Inc., or Make America Great Again Inc., is a super PAC supporting Trump's 2024 presidential election.
Wired also reports that business leaders can secure a one-on-one meeting with Trump for $5 million at Mar-A-Lago. The $5 million meeting has become a “hot ticket” for the business community.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the lack of events or events included in the president's official schedule.
Wired has spoken about these candlelight dinners and points out concerns about their extraordinary nature. Don Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, previously told Wired. “The concerns aren't about fundraising, it's more about access and impact.
The candlelight dinner took place on the same weekend as The Palm event, the annual motorsport celebration in Palm Beach, Florida. According to the Palm Event website, one of the celebratory weekend events took place on Sunday afternoons at Mar-a-Lago, featuring “street sports cars and cars” featuring “motor sports heritage, unique concept cars, cars owned by celebrities and with a history of racing.” Many of these cars appeared at candlelight dinners, according to Instagram Reels, which featured guests shattering around the Rolls-Royce, Bugatti and Lamborghini, among other luxury cars on display on the lawn.
The evening also coincided with a serious escalation of Trump's crackdown on immigration. On Saturday, while Trump and Musk were dining with Maga donors, a federal judge ordered the White House to stop the deportation of people claimed by the Trump administration, who claimed to be Venezuelan gang members. Despite that ruling, two planes carrying suspicious gang members flew from Texas to El Salvador. A senior official reportedly told Axios that the ruling was not mandatory “because the flight had exceeded international waters.”
