CAMPAIGN FINANCE/DEMS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP FAMILY: “Kamala Harris received money from Donald Trump as recently as six years ago. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner hosted a Park Avenue fundraiser for Cory Booker. Kirsten Gillibrand took in Trump family donations three times across a seven-year period — and then gave a similar amount of money to a nonprofit years later after the president mocked her in a tweet. As the president gears up for his re-election fight, donor records show that six of the declared or potential Democrats itching to take him on have themselves been the beneficiaries of his — or his daughter’s — largesse. Harris, Booker and Gillibrand — along with Joe Biden, John Kerry and Terry McAuliffe — all share a common bond of receiving Trump family donations, adding another wrinkle to a crowded primary where candidates are expected to trumpet their distance from the president. An ideological shapeshifter whose decades in the public eye have spanned stints as a Republican, Democrat, Reform Party candidate and independent, Trump has donated across the spectrum from the establishment left to the far right. The recipients include both Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and politically exiled Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). Many of Donald Trump’s donations fall into two categories: contributions to local pols and officials with whom he wanted to curry favor, or one-offs to prominent players on the national stage.”
–Eli Okun, “Awkward: How Trump’s past donations could haunt 2020 Dems,” Politico, March 5, 2019 5:03 am