At weddings, bar mitzvahs and work dinners, it’s commonplace to see guests fiddling with the seating arrangements. It also happened Sunday night at a formal dinner for GOP megadonors, Cabinet nominees, top political leaders, and senior White House staff.
“A lot of people got screwed up on the name cards. A lot of big people,” said one guest at President Trump’s pre-inauguration Candlelight Dinner at the National Building Museum. “I didn’t want to get out of my seat because I didn’t want to lose it.”
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Outside, on the eve of the coldest inauguration in 40 years, lines took as long as 90 minutes. One attendee said guests in gowns and tuxedos were “freezing our asses off,” shivering next to other recognizable partygoers, such as luxury goods giant LVMH’s Bernard Arnault, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and Ron Lauder, an heir to the Estée Lauder fortune.
“It didn’t matter who you were,” said one guest who had donated millions to Trump’s campaign and super PACs.
Upon entry, guests found that some last-minute placecard swapping had shifted the seat assignments, multiple attendees told CBS News.
Chicago Cubs owner Todd Ricketts’ name place card had been moved slightly, from a seat next to a Cabinet secretary to a spot across the table.
Several sources for this article asked to remain anonymous because being bumped was considered an embarrassment. The drama illustrates the level of desire to be close to Trump and his inner circle. CBS News spoke to multiple sources who attended the dinner and confirmed the details in this story.
The inaugural committee informed donors in early January that the weekend’s events were at capacity and that further donations did not guarantee seats, according to a committee official.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
To get two tickets to the candlelight dinner, attendees had to donate at least $250,000 to Trump’s inaugural committee. But even at that high price, the event was oversold.
“It was a clusterf***,” one guest said.
Abbe Lowell, once an attorney for Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump and more recently, for Hunter Biden, was told his name was not on the guest list, according to multiple witnesses. The database apparently wasn’t updating at one check-in desk, but the situation was later resolved.
Staff did come out to expedite a few high-level guests to the front of the security line, diners said. But for others, the bar had shut down by the time they got to the main hall.
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Still, one attendee said that despite the logistical problems, “everyone was in a pretty good mood and excited to be there.”
Nearly 2,000 guests attended the dinner, including Susquehanna International Group’s Jeff Yass, ConocoPhillips’ Ryan Lance, Lockheed Martin’s Jim Taiclet, Galaxy’s Michael Novogratz and singer Carrie Underwood.
Seats at transition co-chair and Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick’s family’s table were among those that saw turnover. When displaced guests tried to sit there, they were asked to relocate.
Pollster Tony Fabrizio, a strategist on Trump’s campaign, didn’t have an assigned seat when he arrived.
One donor was so irritated that a Cabinet nominee had taken someone else’s spot that a U.S. senator was notified.
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Organizers set up auxiliary seating outside the main room, a grand colonnaded hall decorated with topiaries and subtle lighting.
Caviar, beef and apple pie were on the menu. But the main course hadn’t been served to every table until well past 10:30 p.m., multiple guests said. Some were too hungry to stay and left to get pizza and burgers.
A couple Trump allies grumbled that Goldman Sachs’ John Rogers, who supported Sen. Tim Scott in the 2024 presidential race, had a more prominent seat than almost anyone, including major Trump donors and senior White House staff. There was a discussion about ascertaining how much money Goldman executives donated to pro-Trump groups, according to people familiar with the conversation.
When Trump arrived, he was escorted to a table behind a low glass wall to sit with inaugural committee co-chairs Kelly Loeffler and Jeffrey Sprecher, billionaire Miriam Adelson, Tesla’s Elon Musk, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and his fiancee Lauren Sanchez.
Meta’s Jeff Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan were nearby, at a table with Jared and Ivanka Trump.
Others with prime seats included UFC CEO Dana White, Musk’s mother Maye and younger sister Tosca, and Arnault, who started the night waiting in the 30-degree temperatures.
The next morning at the inauguration ceremony, a list of etiquette rules were placed on each of the roughly 600 folding chairs in the Capitol Rotunda.
One line said, “Do not move seat cards.”
contributed to this report.
