The Alfalfa Club is a social club of approximately 200 members which “exists only to hold an annual black tie banquet on the last Saturday of January” at the Capital Hilton in Washington D.C. Members of the club, include several Presidents of the United States.
At the 111th annual Alfalfa Club dinner on Saturday, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice played Ukraine’s national anthem on a piano onstage and, according to Axios, asked her “fellow Republicans” to support Ukraine. Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, was reportedly in the audience.
While members of the press are not allowed to attend the event, Wall Street Journal columnist and former speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan, Peggy Noonan, was inducted into the Alfalfa Club.
Beautiful evening at the Alfalfa Club Dinner!🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/0a2Ih7QCJU
— Callista Gingrich (@CallyGingrich) January 28, 2024
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and his wife Calista (above) were in attendance as were billionaires Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, Michael Bloomberg, and Alfalfa Club president David Rubenstein, co-founder and co-chairman of the private equity firm The Carlyle Group.
Former Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, who recently said that the Democratic party in office looks like America while the Republicans look like the most restrictive country club in America, said at the Alfalfa club: “The mob on the outside of the Capitol was nothing compared to the mob on the inside.” The mob at the Hilton dined on poached lobster and medallions of beef.
Rice is no stranger to playing in front of — and sometimes with — famous names. As seen below, in 2017 she performed a duet at the Kennedy Center with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
