Free Republic

Here are the photos from inside Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s lavish, closed-door Napa Valley fundraiser that sparked a fierce back-and-forth with Sen. Elizabeth Warren during Thursday’s Democratic debate. The images, tweeted by Recode reporter Teddy Schleifer on Monday, show donors dining with the South Bend, Indiana, mayor in the Hall Rutherford wine caves, beneath a chandelier decked in 1,500 Swarovski crystals. The wine caves also feature an onyx banquet table to reflect the chandelier’s lights and bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon that sell for as much as $900 a pop.

The California winemakers who hosted a dinner at a “wine cave” for Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg are defending the fundraising event. Buttigieg’s political rivals used the recent fundraiser to criticize the South Bend, Indiana, mayor for soliciting campaign contributions from wealthy donors at Thursday’s Democratic presidential debate. Craig and Kathryn Hall, who own the Hall Rutherford winery in Napa Valley, said Friday that they took issue with how their wine cave has been portrayed in the media. “It seems someone’s intentionally trying to create a different image than the reality. And that’s unfortunate,” Craig Hall said. A dispute over...