Greetings, and welcome back to Puck—delivered from the friendly skies above Stockholm, where I can now confirm that Taylor puts on a good show.

In today’s issue, intel from the bustling realm of high-dollar political fundraising: Trump’s Bay Area pilgrimage and additional deets on the upcoming David Sacks confab, Trump’s new fixer in big-money crypto, Nicole Shanahan’s R.O.I., and much, much more.

But first, here’s a snippet of Bill Cohan’s latest piece on S.B.F.’s possible appeal strategy…

I don’t know what Sam will argue in his appeal papers, but during my visit with him in the MDC, I got the sense that Sam has become increasingly obsessed with Sullivan & Cromwell, the prestigious Wall Street law firm that represented FTX on regulatory and other matters before the company’s November 2022 bankruptcy filing and, somewhat unusually, continues to represent FTX during the bankruptcy process as well.

Typical bankruptcy protocol prohibits a pre-petition legal or financial advisor from also being a post-petition advisor on account of potential conflicts. Nevertheless, after S&C advised Sam to turn over the C.E.O. job to restructuring expert John J. Ray III, which he did, Ray hired the law firm as FTX’s principal legal advisor. Sam told me that he believed there very well might have been a different outcome had he not given up the C.E.O. job. As he has said repeatedly, he was in the midst of trying to solve FTX’s “liquidity problem” by raising new capital and…

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By now, for example, you’ve surely heard that Donald Trump outraised Joe Biden for the first time in April, according to new reports out yesterday. But in many ways, Trump’s ability to outraise Biden reflects his weaknesses as much as his strengths. For one, Trump only recently has been able to stand up a high-dollar fundraising committee that can collect so-called “super max” checks of $800,000 or $900,000, because he only recently became the presumptive nominee. Biden has been the presumptive nominee for years and has been able to do this for years. What Trump’s people won’t acknowledge is the easiest money that Trump will ever raise is being raised now, when there is plenty of low-hanging fruit to pick. It will only get harder from here, after the penance checks stop flowing.

When not cooped up in a Manhattan courtroom, Trump has been on a high-dollar fundraising rampage, traipsing across the country—really for the first time this election season—from Cincinnati to Texas to Florida, trying to dig himself and the Republican National Committee out of their deep financial hole. According to an invite I got my paws on, the pilgrimage will continue in New Orleans on June 24, where Steve Scalise will throw an event for Trump, hosted by a pair of Big Easy old-money families—Joy and Boysie Bollinger, and Joe and Sue Ellen Canizaro. I’ve also discovered that Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle will head to London next month, where citizens and permanent residents who now live abroad can make contributions. Hosts include possible Trump Secretary of State Ric Grenell and former Ambassador to the Court of St. James (and New York Jets owner) Woody Johnson.

And yet, the event of the cycle doesn’t even have an invite. As loyal readers know, I’m referring to the David Sacks confab, which will be held on June 6 at his Pacific Heights mansion. Now, I’m being told that the invite will never be papered, and that the details of the function will be conveyed by word of mouth, effectively. Top-of-the-line dinner tickets could run as high as $500,000 per head, and are expected to be purchased by many prominent Silicon Valley personalities. Cocktail-and-canapes tickets will be available to the hoi polloi, and bottom out in the tens of thousands, probably. I was mostly joking last week when I floated the idea of Sacks and his All-In co-host, Chamath Palihapitiya, turning the high-dollar event into a content opportunity, but it’s more the other way around, I suppose… In any event, the fundraiser will indeed likely feature a live podcast taping—or the live taping will feature a fundraising dinner.

Last week, during an onstage interview with Axios’ Dan Primack, Sacks confirmed the event and coyly posited that he would be willing to host both Trump and Biden, but that only Trump has taken him up on it. Okay. When Primack pushed Sacks on his past remarks that Trump had disqualified himself from public office after January 6, he diplomatically responded that, well, Biden had, too. “I have bigger disagreements with Biden than with Trump,” he said.

Trump is riding high with the crypto wing of Silicon Valley, in particular: Over the past few weeks, he has energized the HODLer community by vocally defending the industry against Biden regulations—and folks in crypto, led by their new political sherpa Ryan Selkis, tell me they’re prepared to come out as vocally pro-Trump nowadays. On Tuesday, Trump’s campaign began accepting donations in crypto.

Meanwhile, there’s a steady flow of Biden events coming up: Around the time that Trump will be fundraising in Southern California, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will be fundraising in Los Angeles with his husband, Chasten, on behalf of the president, according to another invite I saw. And while scanning the latest reports, a few other liberal donors caught my eye: Michael Moritz (ahem, Sir Michael Moritz) gave $4.8 million last month to American Bridge, his largest disclosed political contribution ever. Moritz is primarily occupied by San Francisco affairs these days; over the last few years, he has become one of the city’s most important philanthropists and political forces, having started a media organization and a grassroots political advocacy group seeking to reposition the city’s politics toward the center. But the Welshman is an inveterate Trump hater, and Moritz, as a former journalist with an ear for the narrative, has long been a supporter of Bridge, which is an oppo shop at its core. (Nevertheless, Moritz didn’t bite when I asked him if he wanted to make the case for Bridge’s importance right now.)

A few donations from Melinda French Gates also caught my attention. Melinda’s Pivotal Ventures gave $2 million to a super PAC supporting candidates who back family-leave policies, and another $400,000 to Be a Hero PAC, a Democratic super PAC. Expect more of this: French Gates, after exiting the Gates Foundation earlier this month and flush with a $15 billion war chest, is going to be a big player in this election cycle now that she has abandoned the posture, long held by her and Bill, that they operated beyond partisan politics.

But perhaps the biggest Silicon Valley donor story surrounds the person who is having a better R.O.I. than probably any other billionaire. I’m talking, of course, about Nicole Shanahan, R.F.K.’s running mate, who recently put $8 million more into their joint bid. The $10 million that Shanahan has now personally contributed has done nothing to counter the Democrats who argued that she was just chosen for her money. And even if that’s true… so what? R.F.K. is qualifying for ballots that he would labor to qualify for without the Nicole payday. Donors and their advisors always fret about impact—maybe more of them should run for vice president.