The fundraiser was for the Great America PAC. | Getty Eric Trump attends pro-Trump super PAC fundraiser

One of Donald Trump’s sons, Eric Trump, attended and spoke at a fundraiser for a super PAC backing his father on Tuesday, the closest yet that Trump and his campaign have come to blessing one of the competing groups that have jockeyed for support among big donors.

The event was held at the World Bar of the Trump World Tower in Manhattan, not far from Trump’s 5th Avenue headquarters, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by POLITICO. Eric Trump is not listed as a speaker on that invitation, but he showed up and spoke briefly, according people familiar with the event.


The fundraiser was for the Great America PAC, which has hired longtime Republican operative Ed Rollins as its top strategist. They showed attendees television ads that they planned to air with additional cash, including at least one that incorporated Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” remark from last week, according to a photo of the event.

Donald Trump initially attacked super PACs when he launched his campaign for president and vowed to run without their support — and he did so throughout the primary — but Trump has since changed his tune and tacitly accepted millions of dollars in supportive ads from two main super PACs during the general election, along with TV spending from the political arm of the National Rifle Association.

Still, Trump’s refusal to bless a singular entity to collect unlimited-sized checks has been a cause of confusion and consternation among big donors. In addition to the Great America PAC, a second rival super PAC, Rebuilding America Now, is run by Ken McKay, a Republican operative who previously worked as an adviser to the Trump campaign. That group has aired the most in television ads so far.

Back during the Republican conventions, it had appeared that McKay’s group, which longtime Republican adman Alex Castellanos is also advising, had emerged as the preferred super PAC of the Trump campaign. Then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort called into a donor event the group was holding in Cleveland, which was widely viewed at the time as the campaign’s official blessing. Castellanos said at the time that they expected Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, to attend super PAC events to help raise money.

But Manafort soon lost traction inside the campaign and within a month he had resigned, leaving it unclear which of the two groups Trump’s team would rather receive big checks.

Among those listed on the Great America PAC invitation to the Tuesday event that Eric Trump attended are David Clarke, the Milwaukee County Sheriff who has endorsed Trump and spoke at the GOP convention, conservative radio hosts Hugh Hewitt and Dennis Prager and actor Jon Voight. Those four were part of a traveling bus tour that had been organized by the super PAC.

Eric Beach, co-chair of the Great America PAC, declined to comment on the event other than to say, “We had a wonderful event today, but as a matter of policy I do not comment on specifics of private meetings.”