An Indiana congressman hoping for a Senate seat traveled to the posh Georgia resort town of Sea Island for the forum that helped launch the presidential campaigns of Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
Rep. Todd Young (R-Ind.) traveled to the island March 3-5 for the American Enterprise Institute's annual World Forum at a cost to AEI of nearly $1,800.
The AEI describes the secretive forum as "off-the-record, agenda-setting discussions covering challenges in politics, economics, foreign policy, and other critical areas."
Young is not seeking re-election to the House so he can run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.). Young faces fellow Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) in the GOP primary May 3.
Forum speakers included House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), former Vice President Dick Cheney, FOX News host Bret Baier, Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove. The forum evolved into a strategy session on how to stop GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, according to a Huffington Post article.
On the business side, the forum was attended by Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google co-founder Larry Page and Napster creator Sean Parker.
"A specter was haunting the World Forum — the specter of Donald Trump," news commentator Bill Kristol emailed in a report obtained by Huffington Post. "There was much unhappiness about his emergence, a good deal of talk, some of it insightful and thoughtful, about why he's done so well, and many expressions of hope that he would be defeated."
So far, Young, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) and Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) and her husband have filed trip papers for the AEI forum.
