Officials and allies of President Donald Trump are dropping hundreds of thousands of dollars to party in private, The Washington Times reported — all in an effort to avoid “very public confrontations.”
“The appeal is having a place where nobody spits in your face,” said Jessica Sidman, food editor for Washington magazine, speaking with The Washington Times. “Like it or not, D.C. is an extremely liberal city. You don’t have to worry about someone yelling at you or recording you in these clubs.”
Among those Trump officials and allies is Scott Bessent, Trump’s treasury secretary who reportedly dines “almost nightly” at Ned’s Club in Washington, D.C., which has a $125,000 initiation fee for top-tier membership, and $25,000 annual dues thereafter.
Other private clubs that Trump allies and officials reportedly frequent include the Executive Branch Club, co-founded by Donald Trump Jr., which The Washington Times reporter Sean Salai described as a “go-to hangout for people close to the president.” The Executive Branch Club has a $500,000 initial membership fee, and is invitation only.
Trump’s pick for the United States ambassador to the Vatican, Brian Burch, president of the conservative political advocacy group CatholicVote, has been recently seen at The Clayton, a private cigar bar with an initiation fee of $50,000, and monthly dues of $1,000.
“Social media and hyper-partisanship have permanently altered the old social dynamic,” said Morgan Knull, a realtor and member of several of Washington, D.C.’s private clubs, speaking with The Washington Times.
“And that is why being able to tuck into a private club with rules of decorum holds such appeal. It’s not about the food or the drinks; it’s about the discretion.”
While it’s not historically uncommon for White House officials to be significantly wealthier than average Americans, the richness of Trump’s cabinet “far exceeds the wealth of previous cabinets,” wrote the advocacy group Public Citizen, with Trump’s team collectively worth around $3.2 billion — way above the collective net worth of former President Joe Biden’s cabinet of $118 million.
Trump officials and allies are no strangers to heckling when out in public. In 2018, former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant in Virginia by its owner, and that same year, Trump’s former senior advisor Stephen Miller threw out $80 of sushi at a restaurant after a bartender gave him two middle fingers.