Gov. Jim Justice is hosting Vice President Mike Pence for a gathering at The Greenbrier this weekend, but he says he doesn’t know much about it.
Justice says he isn’t looped in on The Greenbrer’s preparations, even though his family owns the resort.
He says he doesn’t know whether the crowd for the Trump-Pence fundraiser will meet the state’s guidelines limiting gatherings to 25 people or fewer, even though it’s his executive order and he’s the host of the event.
All he knows, the governor said today, is it’s not a fundraiser to benefit his own campaign and he will be friendly to the vice president of the United States.
“This is not a fundraiser for me, and it’s an absolute fundraiser for our president and our vice president,” Justice said today.
“I’ll be there, and I’ll greet our vice president as I always would try to do. But from the standpoint of how The Greenbrier’s handling it or the size of the crowd, and everything, there will be no crowd and I’m sure The Greenbrier will handle it very well.”
The event is this Saturday at the resort owned by Justice and his family.
The price to participate is not pocket change. The invitation starts with roundtable seating available for $25,000 a person.
There’s an $11,200 per person level that includes a photo opportunity.
There’s a $2,800 per person luncheon.
Or those who can’t attend are invited to give whatever they can.
Justice, owner of The Greenbrier as well as coal and agriculture holdings, often describes a close relationship with President Trump, a fellow Republican who refers to him as “Big Jim.”
Pence is chairman of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
Justice is leading West Virginia’s coronavirus response, with daily briefings urging people to wear masks, wash hands and stay away from large gatherings.
“The event with Vice President Pence will adhere to all COVID-19 mask requirements, social distancing, and personal protection policies recommended by local, state, and federal governments,” said communications director Clay Sutton for Justice’s re-election campaign.
The governor last month lowered West Virginia’s social gathering limit from 100 people down to 25.
“The 25-person limitation applies only to purely social gatherings,” according to state guidelines.
The limit does not apply to “group meetings, conferences or other special events held for essential businesses and operations, as defined by the emergency order signed by Justice. “Such meetings, conferences, or other special events will need to plan for social distancing between attendees based on CDC recommendations.”
Justice today did not discuss which one of those kinds of gatherings might describe a political fundraiser.
The host of the event said he does not know how many people will be there.
“I think the numbers they’re going to target that are going to be there are not very many people,” Justice said. “This is not a fundraiser where you’ve got, you know, 400 or 500 people. It’s nothing like that, and everything.”
The Greenbrier’s owner also said more than once today that he is not looped in on the planning.
“From the standpoint of The Greenbrier handling it and everything, I have no idea,” he said. “I have no contact with those people from the standpoint of how they’re handling this at all.”