Tim Scott set to appear at event with major GOP donors

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) is expected to appear at a political event alongside several political mega-donors in June, as speculation swirls over whether he will be tapped as former President Trump’s running mate.

Scott is a featured speaker at a Washington, D.C., event on June 19 that will raise money for Great Opportunity Policy Inc., a policy advocacy group, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to The Hill.

He will be joined by speakers including billionaire investor Bill Ackman, Citadel CEO and GOP mega-donor Ken Griffin and Trump’s ex-senior adviser Kellyanne Conway, according to an event invitation obtained by The Hill.

Other speakers include Marc Rowan of Apollo Global Management, which had ties to former Trump White House adviser Jared Kushner, and CrownQuest Operating LLC co-founder Tim Dunn, per the invitation.

Scott’s appearance at the event, first reported by The New York Times last week, underscores a potential attempt at showing his ties to major GOP donors and how he could boost Trump’s ticket. Scott, who serves as the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, has ties to deep-pocketed donors, a relationship revealed during his since-suspended GOP presidential run last year.

Griffin is among the top political contributors of the latest election cycle, contributing nearly $60 million to a variety of campaigns, including $5 million to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who has since suspended her GOP presidential bid, per OpenSecrets.

Businessman Marc Andreessen gave more than $11 million in the past year to three affiliated super PACs backing both Republican and Democratic candidates, according to OpenSecrets and Bloomberg.  Dunn gave more than $6.5 million to federal campaigns, which included $5 million to Trump’s allied super PAC, and Rowan dished out about $2 million to super PACs that backed Republicans for Congress, Bloomberg added.

Ackman reportedly donated about $1 million to Rep. Dean Phillips’s (Minn.) Democratic challenge to President Biden earlier this year, though Phillips has since dropped out. Ackman confirmed last year he will not vote for Biden and noted he voted for Trump in 2016.

Earlier this month, Scott said Trump did not raise the possibility of being his running mate while at a private event at Mar-a-Lago with top GOP donors and high-profile leaders.

On whether he thinks he’s on the shortlist, Scott did not say directly.

“I hope that the president will choose a person who helps the country unite and heal,” Scott said on NBC News’s “Meet the Press.” “l I certainly expect to have a decision from President Trump in the next 60 days or so, but he did not bring it up. I certainly didn’t bring it up.”

Others on the potential shortlist for Trump’s vice president include North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. JD Vance (Ohio), House GOP conference Chair Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Rep. Byron Donalds (Fla.).