It costs up to $500,000 to join Executive Branch, the new private club for the MAGA elite in Georgetown. The ultra-exclusive clubhouse counts Donald Trump Jr. as a founder, along with a cadre of the President’s megadonors and crypto titans.
The club will offer fewer than 200 memberships, and there’s already a waitlist, according to the New York Times. The expectation is that the President himself will make appearances, just as he did at the DC Trump hotel during his first White House term.
“This is not just for any Saudi businessman,” an anonymous spokesperson for the club told the Times. According to Politico, the owners include investment banker and Trump ally Omeed Malik along with his business partner Chris Buskirk as well as Zach and Alex Witkoff, the sons of real estate investor turned US envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff. Founding members include White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks, venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, and crypto investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (the twins who famously sued Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook’s ownership).
“We wanted a place to hang out and the clubs that exist in Washington today have been around for decades. They’re kind of old and stuffy…. So we wanted to create something, new hipper, and Trump aligned,” Sacks said recently in his All-In podcast. (Because he works in government, he says he can’t be an owner.) “We want a place to go where you don’t have to worry that the next person over at the bar is a fake news reporter or even a lobbyist.”
While it costs half a million to be a “founding member” with unspecified “additional benefits,” there’s also a lower level membership that’s “more reasonable,” Sacks says on the podcast. You need to be vouched for by existing members to join.
The club is located in the subterranean space formerly home to billiards bar Clubhouse behind the Georgetown Park mall, where you used to be able to sing karaoke, play trivia, and eat nachos. One advantage for the VIP clientele: They can enter discreetly from a basement parking garage.
I recently tried to scope out the space and was greeted by a suited security guard who politely let me know photos or videos were not allowed—and absolutely no media either. What I could spot were the big black double doors, which revealed checkered marble tile floors inside when opened briefly. According to the Times, the modern decor is inspired by a luxe new hotel and private club in New York called Aman. The space includes a bar, lounge, restaurant, and board room, Axios reports.
Listed on LinkedIn as the club’s executive chef: Salvatore Brucculeri, who previously worked at another private club called the Carriage House in Palm Beach. Vanity Fair recently described the Mar-a-Lago alternative, which reportedly costs around $400,000 a year, as “Zero Bond for the Palm Beach set.” Trump Jr.’s girlfriend, Bettina Anderson, has been spotted there.
While it’s unclear what exactly the ultra-rich will be eating and drinking (safe to say the nachos are long gone), it seems sushi will be on the menu at Executive Branch. Job listings posted by Brucculeri seek a sushi chef and sushi assistant for a “prestigious and private members’ club located in Washington, DC” that will offer “a refined dining experience to its distinguished membership.”
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
