An invitation to a “candlelight” dinner that took place this past Saturday at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club offered potential attendees the chance to secure a seat for $1 million each. Reports from various photographs and videos showed that Trump was present at the dinner alongside Elon Musk, as noted by WIRED.
Attire for the evening featured Musk in his classic look: a black sport coat worn over a black T-shirt. He was spotted greeting and waving at fellow guests, accompanied by a woman in a floor-length gown who appeared to be Shivon Zilis, based on multiple Instagram Reels shared by attendees. Zilis, an executive at Neuralink and former board member of OpenAI, is also the mother of four of Musk’s 14 known children. (Zilis did not immediately respond when approached for comment.)
Musk, who has been leading the so-called Department of Government Efficiency in an aggressive review of federal agencies over the past six weeks, dined beside Trump.
Previously, WIRED reported on another candlelight dinner that occurred on March 1, where guests were also invited to contribute $1 million per person. That event was featured on the president’s public agenda with a note stating “the President attends the MAGA INC. Candlelight Finance Dinner.” However, the March 15 dinner did not make it onto the official schedule.
The invitation, which WIRED obtained, reads, “You are invited to a candlelight dinner featuring special guest speaker President Donald J. Trump. $1,000,000 per person.” It bears a “MAGA INC.” header, and a note at the bottom clarifies, “Donald J. Trump is appearing at this event only as a special guest speaker and is not soliciting funds or donations.” MAGA Inc., or Make America Great Again Inc., is a super PAC that supported Trump’s campaign for the 2024 presidency.
WIRED has also revealed that business leaders can arrange a one-on-one meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago for a price of $5 million. According to a source familiar with these meetings, the $5 million slots have become highly sought after within business circles.
The White House has not yet replied to inquiries regarding the event or its omission from the president’s official schedule.
Experts consulted by WIRED regarding these candlelight dinners have raised eyebrows about their peculiar nature. “I can’t recall a sitting president in the first weeks of his administration asking for millions of dollars in fundraising,” noted Don Moynihan, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan. “The concern is less about fundraising and more about access and influence. Individuals seeking favorable treatment believe that donating money to Trump serves their interests.”
The candlelight dinner coincided with the Palm Event, an annual motorsports celebration in Palm Beach, Florida. One of the event’s activities took place at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday afternoon and showcased “street sports cars and cars with motorsports heritage, unique concept cars, celebrity-owned vehicles, and cars with racing history,” as detailed on the Palm Event website. Several of these cars were also seen at the candlelight dinner, as indicated by Instagram reels that featured guests gathering around a Rolls Royce, Bugatti, and Lamborghini, among other luxury automobiles displayed on the lawn.
The evening also aligned with a significant uptick in Trump’s immigration crackdown. On Saturday, while Trump and Musk dined with MAGA donors, a federal judge mandated that the White House cease the deportation of individuals whom the Trump administration claimed were Venezuelan gang members. Despite the ruling, two planes allegedly carrying these individuals departed from Texas to El Salvador. Senior officials reportedly informed Axios that the ruling had no effect “because the flights were over international waters.”
