President Trump to hold fundraiser in Bay Area Tuesday
SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - President Trump is scheduled to visit the Bay Area for the first time as president for a fundraiser event on Tuesday.
Air Force One is set to land at Moffett Airfield in Mountain View at 11 a.m. where the president is expected to host a 2020 reelection luncheon.
The exact location of the fundraiser isn't known for security reasons, but additional details will be made available only to those who RSVP. Cities like Atherton, Palo Alto and San Francisco have been mentioned as possible locations.
California Highway Patrol, Mountain View Police and Palo Alto police departments all referred KTVU to the White House for more information, but officials remain tight-lipped. According to one Republican website, the time and address of the fundraiser will be provided when attendees RSVP.
"The secrecy around this fundraising is a little unusual," said Melinda Jackson, San Jose State University Political Science Department chair.
Tickets for the event cost up to $100,000 per couple, which includes two tickets to the roundtable, a photo opportunity with the president and "premier seating for lunch," according to the invitation. Individual tickets cost $1,000, $2,800 or $5,600 for gold-level seating. "Trump victory membership benefits" are included in this invitation.
The president is expected to raise more than $15 million during his two-day stop in California that starts in the Bay Area.
"Silicon Valley especially has been playing more and more of a role in presidential campaigns. In the last few cycles we've really seen those donations go up. So all of the candidates are coming here, including the president," Jackson said.
Anti-Trump activists with Backbone Campaign plan to fly the infamous "baby Trump" balloon in Los Altos near the intersection of San Antonio Road and Foothill Expressway, between 10:15 a.m. and 4 p.m. in protest of his arrival.
His last visit to the Bay Area was three years ago for a rally in San Jose and led to several clashes between protests and Trump supporters.
Several Palo Alto residents on Monday expressed excitement about the presidential visit, but did not want their faces to appear on camera; saying they don't share their political views with the majority of their neighbors.
"I'm a supporter of President Trump. I acknowledge that a lot of people in this neighborhood are not supporters of him, but I think it takes a certain amount of courage for him to come here and hope we don't make a big scene wherever he ends up going," said a Republican who did not want to be identified.
Democrats we spoke with said while they are not Trump supporters, they respect the president's right to campaign even if they don't agree with him.
Jackson said this time around, President Trump will have to do more fundraising than he did in 2016 and that his campaign will be a lot different; he's no longer a political outsider, but is the sitting president.
A Republican official familiar with Trump's plans said he will raise $3 million Tuesday at a lunch in the Bay Area and $5 million at a dinner later in the evening at the home of real-estate developer Geoffery Palmer.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson will also be in San Francisco Tuesday to push for a program that gives tax incentives to people who invest in low-income communities.