President Donald Trump hosted a dinner at his golf club in Virginia on Thursday evening for the top 220 holders of his personal $TRUMP meme coin. The top 25 in the group of investors participated in a VIP reception with the president.
When a reporter asked White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt if the list of attendees was going to be made available to the public, she replied, “The president is attending it in his personal time.”
Reporter: You guys are very proud of your record on transparency… on the president’s dinner tonight will the white house commit to making a list of the attendees public so people can see who is paying for that access?
Leavitt: The president is attending it in his personal… pic.twitter.com/oDkCdkN7kT
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 22, 2025
Republican political pundit and Trump critic Tim Miller responded: “Presidents don’t get ‘personal time.’ There’s not like a magic suit you wear when you are doing official business and one where you are just Donald from Queens.”
Actually, it’s fine. If Trump is saying he’s doing something on his “personal time,” then obviously that means he’s not acting within what the Supreme Court calls “the outer perimeter of his official responsibility,” which, in turn, means he’s not immune from criminal… https://t.co/5R0ksa3E17
— George Conway
(@gtconway3d) May 23, 2025
Former Republican political pundit and Supreme Court attorney George Conway (ex-husband of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign manager Kellyanne Conway) replied to Miller: “Actually, it’s fine. If Trump is saying he’s doing something on his “personal time,” then obviously that means he’s not acting within what the Supreme Court calls “the outer perimeter of his official responsibility,” which, in turn, means he’s not immune from criminal prosecution.”
Former Republican, federal prosecutor and editor-in-chief of MeidasTouch, Ron Filipkowski chimed in and replied to Conway: “what an incredibly great point! Karoline Leavitt just took away his presidential immunity defense.”
Both Filipkowski and Conway are addressing the controversial 2024 Supreme Court decision granting the Oval Office occupant broad presidential immunity from prosecution for actions considered part of the president’s “official” duties.
Below is the Brennan Center for Justice opining on that SCOTUS decision:
“The ruling in Trump v. United States is an affront to democracy and the rule of law, forfeiting critical checks on executive power. It undermines criminal accountability for presidents if their law-breaking occurs in the course of “official” conduct, and it endangers democratic accountability by potentially shielding presidents from prosecution for trying to overthrow elections. By inserting this opinion into a world where impeachment is no longer a viable option, the Supreme Court is licensing future presidents to subvert our democracy at will — and protecting a past president, Donald Trump, who attempted just that.”