Tag: Sheldon Adelson

Miriam Adelson was awarded Medal of Freedom after donating $500k to Trump aides’ legal expenses

President Trump presents Miriam Adelson, wife of Sheldon Adelson, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Credit: Cheriss May, NurPhoto

The Adelsons were the biggest donors to Trump’s campaign other than Trump.

In the last three months of 2018, GOP megadonors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson donated $500,000 to a fund set up to pay legal expenses incurred by aides to President Donald Trump, The Washington Post reported Thursday night.

Contributions to the fund are specifically allocated to pay expenses for aides wrapped up in the investigation into whether Russia colluded with the Trump campaign. The Adelsons donated $250,000 each on October 1. Just a little over one month later, Trump awarded Miriam Adelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Before receiving the medal, the Adelsons donated $30 million to Trump’s presidential campaign in the final months of the 2016 race, and last year, donated $100 million to various Republican candidates and GOP-aligned PACs in the midterm elections. In fact, as Open Secrets noted last fall, other than Trump himself, the Adelsons were the largest donors to the Trump campaign. They also donated $5 million to Trump’s inaugural committee.

View the complete February 1 article by Addy Baird on the ThinkProgress website here.

Sheldon Adelson Breaks Spending Record on Midterm Elections, Surpassing $100M

Conservative megadonor outpaces his 2016 spending

Sheldon Adelson Credit: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo

Conservative megadonors Sheldon Adelson and Miriam Adelson have doled out more than $100 million to aid Republicans in the midterm election, far outpacing their giving during the 2016 presidential cycle.

A new $25 million donation puts the billionaire benefactors’ total spending toward helping Republicans hold on to both chambers of Congress at $113 million, Bloomberg reported. The donation was to the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC with ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

That total surpasses the $82.6 million the couple spent on the 2016 cycle.

View the complete October 22 article by Emily Kopp on the Roll Call  website here.

Sheldon Adelson Sees a Lot to Like in Trump’s Washington

Sheldon Adelson and wife, Miriam, attended a presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., in 2016. Credit: Damon Winter, The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The return on investment for many of the Republican Party’s biggest political patrons has been less than impressive this year. But not for Sheldon Adelson.

Mr. Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate, and his wife, Miriam, a physician, have emerged as the biggest and potentially most influential contributors to Republicans in the midterm season. Despite initially harboring qualms about President Trump’s leadership, the Adelsons have found much to like in a Republican-controlled government that has aligned with their most cherished priorities: unflinchingly pro-Israel, unaccommodating to Middle Eastern adversaries and dedicated to deregulation and lower taxes.

Mr. Adelson in particular enjoys a direct line to the president. In private in-person meetings and phone conversations, which occur between the two men about once a month, he has used his access to push the president to move the United States embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and, more recently, cut aid to the Palestinians, according to people familiar with their discussions, who spoke anonymously to discuss private matters. Mr. Trump has done both, triggering a backlash from some American allies.

View the complete September 22 article by Jeremy W. Peters on the New York Times website here.

Mega-donors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson pour $25 million into fight to keep GOP control of Senate

The following article by Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Anu Narayanswamy was posted on the Washington Post website August 20, 2018:

Billionaire Sheldon Adelson, chairman and chief executive of Las Vegas Sands Corp., and his wife, Miriam. Credit: Anthony Kwan, Bloomberg News

Billionaires Sheldon and Miriam Adelson shelled out $25 million in July to the main super PAC supporting Senate Republicans, bringing their support for holding the GOP majority in both chambers of Congress to at least $55 million and securing their status as the biggest donors to super PACs so far this cycle.

The $25 million from the casino magnate and his wife, a physician, marked their first donations this cycle to the Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that is working to maintain the GOP majority in the Senate this fall, according to Federal Election Commission records filed Monday evening. Continue reading “Mega-donors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson pour $25 million into fight to keep GOP control of Senate”