Libertarian Party Chair Misleads Members & Board on Meeting with Trump

Bombshell: Discussions were coordinated with Trump campaign as early as November 2023, leading to major questions

“Someone adjacent to the campaign reached out to me six months ahead of time, just looking to sort of test the waters, see what my appetite might be to work together on a couple of things.” - Angela McArdle

Libertarian Party Chair Angela McArdle donned a clown nose announcing her strategy to help elect Donald Trump.

Libertarian Party (LP) Chair Angela McArdle has been coordinating with Donald Trump since at least last November, unbeknownst to the Libertarian National Committee (LNC) or the party delegates who re-elected her in May.

In July 2024, the Libertarian National Committee was finally made aware of a meeting with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort when LNC Representative Jonathan McGee forwarded an e-mail to the LNC business list from LP Member Mike Shanner that said in part:

She found a way to meet with Donald Trump, she spent her own money to fly to Mar-a-Lago and somehow convinced Donald Trump to speak at our convention. (Emphasis added)

Angela McArdle’s domestic partner, Austin Padgett, who was hired by McArdle on behalf of the Libertarian Party around the same time, recently posted about a meeting with Donald Trump that states in part:

I spoke with President Trump over a long dinner about this opportunity and reminded him Javier Milei was the only person Tucker Carlson interviewed who got more views than Trump. 

I told DonaldTrump last November…..

You would think someone would post about their meeting with a former President and likely Presidential nominee right after it happened. Why would someone wait 10 months?

Last month, McArdle gave an interview to the Washington Examiner in which she stated “Someone adjacent to the campaign reached out to me six months ahead of time, just looking to sort of test the waters, see what my appetite might be to work together on a couple of things….” (Emphasis added). This would seem to confirm Padgett’s statement that the Mar-A-Lago meeting took place in November 2023 and also Shanner’s statement that at the Mar-a-Lago meeting Trump agreed to speak at the national convention.

On April 26, 2024, Angela Tweeted stating she sent out invitations to Donald Trump (& President Joe Biden) to speak at the Libertarian National Convention in May 2024. The following month, she Tweeted that Trump asked to speak at the convention. Regardless of which version is correct, why would it have been necessary to extend an invitation or for Trump to ask to speak at the convention given that Trump had already agreed to speak in his meeting with McArdle at Mar-a-Lago as stated by Mike Shanner in the e-mail cited above?

We know that Libertarian National Committee Secretary Caryn Ann Harlos says she asked who paid for the trip to Mar-a-Lago and was told by McArdle “Not the party.”

So who actually paid for this trip? Who was the Trump operative that reached out and did they reach out to any of the Libertarian Presidential candidates to try and strike a deal? Why hasn’t Angela disclosed it to the board and party members? Who else was there? What was agreed to by both parties? Is this why they are trying to remove Secretary Harlos this weekend or trying to end public meetings?

Why isn’t the Libertarian National Committee asking to see the terms of Angela’s agreement with Donald Trump and why hasn’t Angela disclosed it?