Last year, the White House Counsel advised President Biden that giving tours to big-dollar donors in the Oval Office could raise legal issues. He has stopped this practice since then, according people with knowledge of the matter.

Why it matters: Biden is hosting donors in the White House residence, for private meals and short briefings. This helps energize and convinces them that he’s got a plan to defeat former President Trump.

The White House Counsel’s Office has expressed concern about the donor outreach and has approved the lunches, dinners, and other events with strict restrictions on who can attend and where they can be held.

Biden is known for showing the Oval Office off to his guests. However, he stopped giving donors an Oval Office tour early in the campaign when the Counsel’s Office raised concerns. Exclusive briefings, meals and receptions are expected to continue.

To comply with the ethics laws, donors cannot be directly asked for donations. Events must take place either in the White House Map Room, the old dining room of the family or at the tennis pavilion located on the south lawn.

The Washington Post published an article on Wednesday about the meals.

Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-chair of the campaign and a Democratic mega-donor, is organizing these intimate gatherings.

What they are saying: “It’s normal for any president to invite supporters into the White House, which is a working office and a residence,” White House deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in an interview with Axios.

He said, “President Biden’s team and I take the rules governing the White House seriously and are proud of it.”

Kedric Paige, Ethics Director at the Campaign Legal Center said that certain rooms of the White House and residence are not covered by the Hatch Act, the federal law that governs campaigning by elected officials.

Payne stated that the president was allowed to meet and entertain donors in the White House. But you can’t solicit or give donations to a campaign while at the White House.

Zoom out: Both Republican administrations and Democratic administrations that are running for reelection used the glamour and glitz of White House to make donors feel appreciated and valued by the President and his top advisors.

The White House Bowling Alley, State Dinners and Holiday Party Invitations are standard ways of keeping deep-pocketed donors happy and ready to pay when the campaign begins.

Trump regularly pushed and broke the legal boundaries for permissible political activities at the White House. This included accepting the GOP nomination on the South Lawn in 2020.

Trump claimed that his speech of acceptance was legal. He said that the Hatch Act does not apply to Presidents, and therefore there is no Hatch Act. However, this defense did not take into account the amount of work the White House staff put in to organize the event.

A government watchdog group reprimanded thirteen of Trump’s advisers after he left office for abusing their power and violating the Hatch Act which prohibits government officials from engaging in explicit political activity.

The bottom line: Because of COVID, the Biden Administration didn’t fully utilize the White House social calendar during the first two years. This led to apathy from the party’s millionaires and bundlers.

This began to change in the 2022 holiday season.

The White House will host three state dinners in 2023. Some of the biggest party donors were invited.