Donald Trump in San Francisco at fundraiser hosted by billionaire VCs
SAN FRANCISCO - Former President Donald Trump attended an event in San Francisco on Thursday at a fundraiser hosted by billionaire venture capitalists.
Trump is spending the rest of the week in California, his first stop in the Golden State since a jury convicted him on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York.
His first stop was Pacific Heights at an event hosted by billionaire venture capitalists David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya.
The two have hosted similar events, including for entrepreneur and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy.
Together they host a podcast called "All In," where they talked about hosting the fundraiser, saying they'd sent an invitation to host a fundraiser for President Biden as well.
'Trump Chicken' to greet Donald Trump during San Francisco visit
Former President Donald Trump will be in San Francisco on Thursday for a fundraiser hosted by tech billionaires -- and a 33-foot-tall bird lookalike from his opponents will greet him.
"I've donated to Bobby Kennedy, I've donated to Democrats massively and I'll donate to Donald Trump," Palihapitya said on his podcast. "And if there's an opportunity to talk to President Biden and really understand where he's at, I'd donate to him as well."
A small group of pro-Trump Californians rolled from Oakland to San Francisco to show support for the Republican presumptive nominee.
At the same time, there was an anti-Trump demonstration near the Marina. Organizers planned to launch a float mocking the former president and his recent convictions, but the inflatable couldn't stay up.
There was a sizable show of support from the San Francisco Republican Party. The former president is expected to rack up hundreds of millions of dollars during his week in California.
"We're seeing people who are willing and open to be associated with the President and to publicly give him substantial amounts of money in San Francisco. It's a huge thing," said John Dennis, SFGOP chair.
"Registration was up in every county, every assembly district in the state of California."
That's also what Sacks expected by hosting the former president at his Pacific Heights mansion.
"Quite frankly, there's a lot of preference falsification in Silicon Valley," Sacks said in his podcast. "Nobody is excited about Biden right now. The question is, do they hold their nose and vote for him, do they vote for Trump, or do they vote for Bobby Kennedy? But there's a lot of people who I do think support Trump."
After his San Francisco visit, Trump will head to events in Beverly Hills and Newport Beach.