Report Reveals Top Donors to Trump’s Ballroom as WH Vows to ‘Relentlessly’ Pursue ‘Cowardly’ Leakers

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

The top donors to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom have been revealed and many of them have had contracts with the federal government during Trump’s second term.

The Washington Post published a list of dozens of donors to Trump’s massive ballroom project in a Thursday report that cited an internal spreadsheet used to track contributions. The spreadsheet shows more than $300 million has been invested. Trump has said he and “friends” will be paying for the construction project, though The Post noted Trump was not on the list of contributors.

Of all the contributors, approximately half have had contracts with the federal government in Trump’s second term, though there is no evidence that these contributions are tied to any sort of favorable treatment by the administration. Donations reportedly go to a non-profit and then are directly put into a White House account controlled by the president.

The non-profit Public Citizen also published a list of top donors based on tax filings and other documentation.

According to The Post, Apple and Nvidia each donated $25 million. The Adelson family, major GOP donors, also contributed $25 million, and Charles Ergen, the billionaire co-founder and chairman of Dish Network, is giving the same amount.

Part of Ergen’s contribution reportedly came after FCC head Brendan Carr dropped a probe into Dish following a meeting over the summer with Ergen, who had reportedly wanted to keep the donation anonymous, the outlet noted.

It is one of a number of timelines for donors that have critics questioning whether the donations are creating conflicts of interests, something the White House denied.

Google is contributing $22 million, which is part of a larger settlement, which is part of a $25 million settlement Trump had with YouTube after facing a ban from the platform after the January 6 Capitol riot.

The Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation Inc. has pledged more than $20 million. Defense contract company Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, RHI II LLC, and AI company Palantir Technologies Inc. are all giving $10 million.

Companies like Amazon, Cisco, Meta, and T-Mobile have given $5 million each, while Comcast is forking over $7.5 million.

Other donors include Small Business Administration head Kelly Loeffler and her husband ($5 million), Joseph Popolo Jr., a major GOP donor, and his wife ($1 million), and Brandon Lutnick, son of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick ($2.5 million).

Some donors have requested their names remain anonymous.

White House spokesman Davis Ingle told The Post that the administration will “relentlessly pursue those responsible for this cowardly leak while continuing to protect all those who give.”

“The same critics who are alleging fake conflicts of interests, would also complain if American taxpayers were footing the bill for these long-overdue renovations,” he said.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!