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- Former President Donald Trump made an impromptu appearance at a fundraiser for dogs Friday.
- Wearing a “MAGA” hat, Trump gave a short speech that referenced Lara Trump’s possible Senate run.
- Trump has made few public appearances or speeches since he left office in January.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Former President Donald Trump on Friday gave a short speech during an apparently impromptu appearance at a dog rescue at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach Florida, local news outlet WPTV reported.
The fundraiser was led by Lauree Simmons, the president and founder of Big Dog Ranch Rescue, who told WPTV she held the fundraiser in hopes of raising $500,000 to use a plane to extract dogs from dog meat farms in China.
“[What you’re] doing is so important and so great, and so important and I’m with you 100%, and you had many meetings in the White House and the Oval Office having to do with saving and helping dogs,” Trump said Friday.
HuffPost reported the same day as the event that in the past seven years, Big Dog Ranch Rescue has spent $1.9 million at Trump-owned properties and estimated it would spend $225,000 at Mar-a-Lago this weekend.
Lara Trump, the wife of Trump’s son Eric Trump, was listed as a chairwoman for the organization’s charity events beginning in 2018, according to the report. Simmons in 2019 visited the White House when Trump signed a bill focused on animal cruelty, according to HuffPost.
While on stage, Trump referenced the rumors that his daughter-in-law was eyeing a run for Senate.
“I want to thank Lara, who has been so incredible. I don’t know, you’re running for the Senate,” he said in a video recorded Friday and posted to Twitter, wearing his signature “Make America Great Again” red hat. “I hear she’s going to run for the Senate.”
-T.A. Walker (@timallanwalker) March 12, 2021
Lara Trump is reportedly considering a run for Senate in North Carolina to replace Richard Burr, a retiring Republican who voted in January to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, a move that led to his censure by North Carolina GOP.
Trump has made few public appearances since he left office in January, plagued by scandal following his monthslong refusal to concede his loss to President Joe Biden and his inciting the January 6 riot at the US Capitol that left five people dead.
The Senate failed to convict Trump in February following his impeachment by the House in January. Trump is the only president to have been impeached twice.
Trump in February spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in his first speech since leaving the White House. During his speech, Trump made several false or misleading claims and hinted at a 2024 run for president.
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