The former owner of the 67-story towering blue structure on the Las Vegas Strip before it opened in December 2023 as Fontainebleau will help organize the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States.
President-elect Trump recently named former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Georgia), whose husband Jeffrey Sprecher is the chair of the New York Stock Exchange, and Bronx-born real estate mogul Steve Witkoff, as the co-chairs of the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee. The nonprofit is tasked with organizing the festivities on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, when Trump will formally become the 47th commander-in-chief.
“On Election Night, we made history and I have the extraordinary honor of having been elected the 47th President of the United States thanks to tens of millions of hardworking Americans across the nation who supported our America First agenda. The Trump Vance Inaugural Committee will honor this magnificent victory in a celebration of the American People and our nation,” Trump said in a release on the inauguration committee’s formation.
“This will be the kick-off to my administration, which will deliver on bold promises to Make America Great Again. Together, we will celebrate this moment, steeped in history and tradition, and then get to work to achieve the most incredible future for our people, restoring strength, success, and common sense to the Oval Office,” the president-elect continued.
Witkoff, a longtime friend of Trump’s and an ally to his political aspirations, is also a New York real estate tycoon.
The president is a lifelong friend of mine, and he is one of the best men I have ever known,” Witkoff said during a 2024 campaign speech in Georgia. “I speak about him often, and I like to tell people about his humanity, his sensitivity, and his empathy.”
In 2016, Trump’s first inauguration committee was led by the late Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn, and Phil Ruffin. The three billionaires also paid for most of the event.
Fontainebleau Nightmare
Witkoff expanded his portfolio west to Southern Nevada in 2017 when he bought the unfinished Fontainebleau from billionaire Carl Icahn for $600 million. Icahn purchased the resort in bankruptcy in 2010 for $151 million but did nothing to bring the property to completion.
Witkoff planned to finish the longstanding eyesore and towering reminder of the Great Recession. He hoped to honor his late son, Drew, who in 2011 died at the age of 22 of an oxycodone overdose, by calling the resort The Drew.
Witkoff, however, encountered financing issues in obtaining roughly $2.5 billion needed to finish the property. COVID-19 further strained Witkoff’s ability to bring the integrated resort to completion.
Witkoff ultimately sold the Las Vegas Strip development to the real estate subsidiary of Koch Industries for an unknown sum in early 2021. Fontainebleau opened to much fanfare last December but has struggled to solidify its position on the Strip’s northern end.
Middle East Gig
Along with heading up his inauguration committee, Witkoff has been named by Trump as a special envoy to the Middle East. The position does not require Senate confirmation, unlike ambassadorships. Witkoff has no known foreign policy experience.
Steve is a highly respected leader in business and philanthropy who has made every project and community he has been involved with stronger and more prosperous,” Trump said of the appointment. “Steve will be an unrelenting voice for peace and make us all proud.”
During Trump’s first term, he named Witkoff to the board of trustees for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
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