Billionaire Peter Thiel Hosted Miami Fundraiser for Cheney Challenger: Report
- Billionaire Peter Thiel hosted a fundraiser for Rep. Liz Cheney’s challenger Harriet Hageman.
- According to Vanity Fair, it was held at Thiel’s Miami estate and attended by Donald Trump Jr.
- Dozens of GOP donors attended, as Thiel is backing Trump-tied candidates in the midterms.
Billionaire and PayPal founder Peter Thiel hosted a fundraiser in Miami for Wyoming Republican Harriet Hageman, the Trump-backed challenger to Rep. Liz Cheney, according to Vanity Fair.
According to sources familiar with the event, dozens of Republican donors attended, and it was staged at Thiel’s 10,000-square-foot Miami estate, which Thiel purchased last year, and was formerly the location of the 1996 season of MTV’s Real World.
Donald Trump Jr. was in attendance, according to the report.
Hageman’s speech that night “was all about how the 2020 election was stolen and Cheney is a RINO,” according to Vanity Fair’s report, which cited a source briefed by an attendee. In late December, Politico reported on invites for the event being sent out.
Cheney, one of two Republicans on the US House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack, has been adamant about investigating former President Donald Trump and other top GOP players’ roles in the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Her position has drawn ire from Trump and his loyalist sect of the GOP and led to her removal from Republican leadership in May 2021.
Thiel, a vocal Silicon Valley ally to Trump, donated the maximum $5,800 contribution to Hageman’s campaign in October, Politico reported.
He has also backed two Wyoming PACs supporting the challenger, who is still not caught up to Cheney on funds. By September 2021, weeks after Hageman announced a run, Politico reported that Rep. Cheney had $3.6 in campaign funds and Hageman had $245,000.
Cheney’s office and Hageman did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Last week, Politico reported that Thiel had also backed fundraising efforts for Arizona GOP candidate for US Senate Blake Masters and Ohio GOP candidate for US Senate JD Vance.
Thiel has donated $10 million apiece to super PACs supporting Vance and Masters, and also introduced a plan with Masters to mint and sell 99 NFTs of their joint book, “Zero to One.”
Masters posted about the plan on Twitter, promising “exclusive access to parties with me and Peter” for a $5,800 contribution to his campaign.
Peter Thiel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
