Protests Planned For Mike Pence's Visit To Saint Louis Thursday

ST. LOUIS, MO — Vice President Mike Pence will be in St. Louis on Thursday to promote the Trump administration's tax cuts and raise money for Missouri Republican Josh Hawley. The state's current attorney general, Hawley is hoping to take Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill's seat in November.

The tax cut event, scheduled for Thursday morning at the St. Louis Marriott Grand, is hosted by America First Policies, a dark money group founded by — among others — former Trump deputy campaign manager Rick Gates, who was recently swept up in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Gates pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States and lying to the FBI in February.

But Gates is far from the nonprofit's only controversial member. The group's director was forced to resign from the Trump administration in January after making racist comments on talk radio, and their policy adviser once said in a Snapchat post: "The only thing the Nazis didn't get right was that they didn't keep f***ing going."

America First Policies was also implicated in an ethics complaint against former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, who was accused of illegally using a charity donor list during his 2016 campaign. According to the complaint, those illicit donations were allegedly funneled through America First Policies.

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Later Thursday afternoon, Pence will stump for Hawley — which has to be a little awkward for both men, since as attorney general, Hawley filed some of the complaints against Greitens.

But Hawley has also repeatedly defended Pence's boss, recently telling the Associated Press he's "delighted to have the president's support."

The details of Hawley's fundraiser haven't been made public, perhaps because one group of protesters has already pledged to give Pence "a piece of [their] minds" during his visit.

About a hundred people say they plan to protest outside the Marriott Grand on Thursday morning, with hundreds more interested in multiple events on Facebook.

"Pence's visit, particularly hosted by this type of organization, should not go unopposed in our city," writes a second group of protesters.

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images