Donald Trump Attends the Miami Grand Prix After a $250,000 Fundraiser Gets Cancelled by Race Authorities

Former President Donald Trump made an impressive entry at the Miami Grand Prix in South Beach, Florida on Sunday. Before the third annual Grand Prix started, Trump was greeted by roaring supporters as he was spotted waving to them and saluting during the national anthem. As per Fox News, Margo Martin, the Republican leader's deputy chief of communications, posted videos of the event on X. One of the videos showed the audience yelling "U-S-A" when Trump pulled up to the McLaren Racing garage's pit lane. Before Trump's arrival, there was a dispute over Steve Witkoff, one of his fans, who intended to donate $250,000 from the sale of his Paddock Club suite tickets to the 2024 GOP frontrunner's campaign. But race authorities promptly batted that down, and sent Witkoff a cease and desist letter. "Political campaigning has its place, and it is not at our race," the legal letter stated. "We welcome you and your guests to attend our event and enjoy your suite. However, we respectfully request it be done in compliance with our very clear license agreement."

As per The Daily Mail, the full statement included: "It has come to our attention that you may be using your Paddock Club Rooftop Suite for a political purpose, namely raising money for a federal election at $250,000 per ticket, which clearly violates the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix suite license agreement," read the cease and desist letter.

"If this is true, we regret to inform you that your suite license will be revoked, you will not be allowed to attend the race at any time, and we will refund you in full." The McLaren officials refused to comment any further. According to reports, Witkoff's real estate company was set to organize the event at a golf club in Hollywood, Florida. Members of the club received an invitation to the fundraiser; although it did not specifically identify Trump, post sources who asked were informed that the $250k event was for the Republican nominee. 

Trump attributed the win of McLaren's Lando Norris over world champion Max Verstappen to his presence, he wrote on his Truth Social account: "It was a great honor to see my friends at McLaren win the big Miami Formula 1 race. It was the car I visited before the race, and Endorsed—that’s what we need for our Country—Winning!" However, netizens criticized the billionaire businessman turned politician's presence at the sports event. McLaren had to issue an official statement denying any political affiliation with his visit.

The statement from McLaren read: "McLaren is a non-political organization however we recognize and respect the office of President of the United States so when the request was made to visit our garage on race day we accepted alongside the president of the FIA and the CEO’s of Liberty Media and Formula 1." 

"We were honored that McLaren Racing was chosen as the representative of F1 which gave us the opportunity to showcase the world-class engineering that we bring to motorsport."