Business Opportunities

Guests scooped caviar, noshed on lamb lollipops and sipped top-shelf Champagne on a recent Friday at the grand opening of Executive Branch, a new club that President Trump’s son and close friends started in Washington that costs up to $500,000 to join. 

There was David Sacks, the administration’s unpaid cryptocurrency czar, who had been privately touting the club to associates. Some cabinet members came as guests, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. (Her aide Corey Lewandowski was there, too.) Donald Trump Jr. and senior administration officials mingled in the cavernous space near the Georgetown waterfront.

Many of the city’s top lobbyists said they were not interested in attending the party or joining the club, even though it might seem like a dream opportunity for hobnobbing with the nascent administration. The price was too high to join the club, they said privately, and they worried membership could attract scrutiny from critics and Democrats, who could be armed with subpoena powers after next year’s midterm elections.

Others said they were concerned about the appearance of directly giving money to the president’s family and relatives of White House officials. The children of special envoy Steve Witkoff are part owners of the club.

Lobbyists with close ties to Trump are having a particularly lucrative year, covering their office walls with photos of the president and expanding their offices, with some firms even turning down clients because they already have too many. 

Trump, who once vowed to “drain the swamp,” has relationships with many of the city’s top lobbyists, who raise money for him and sometimes bring him business opportunities.