ATLANTA — Former President Donald Trump stopped in an Atlanta Chick-fil-A restaurant on his way to a fundraiser on Wednesday.
Trump landed in Atlanta shortly before noon and then, later, traveled to the Chick-fil-A in Atlanta's Vine City neighborhood at 875 Martin Luther King Jr Dr.
The former president and 2024 Republican nominee spoke to employees and customers at the restaurant, took pictures with guests and autographed a hat. He ordered 30 milkshakes and gave them out to people at the restaurant.
Trump is due to attend a fundraising luncheon Wednesday in Atlanta with hosts including former Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, according to a flier for the event obtained by 11Alive. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones also posted on X that he would be among the hosts.
Trump is in Atlanta this week as he filed to appeal Judge Scott McAfee's rejection of his attempt to dismiss the 2020 election RICO case on First Amendment grounds. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis filed a response with the Georgia Court of Appeals asking them to deny an appeal.
The Atlanta fundraising luncheon comes on the heels of a reportedly $50 million dollar fundraiser Trump had in Florida and just two weeks after President Joe Biden reportedly brought in $25 million.
Republican political analyst Brian Robinson of Robinson Republic Communications said the Biden and Trump campaigns are likely spending a lot of money per single vote in key states like Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Arizona. He said that, in most campaign cycles, both parties count on their loyal base of voters. However, he said the 2024 presidential election hangs in the balance of the occasional voter, and that’s where most campaigns will invest their funds.
“So you’re going to see huge operations on both sides targeting that person and making sure they go vote or trying to dissuade them from voting if you think they’re going to vote for the other guy," he said.
(editor's note: An original version of this article noted that Trump said the owner of the store was a member of one of his golf clubs; Chick-fil-A contacted 11Alive to say the owner does not know Trump. It's unclear if Trump may have been referring to someone else.)
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