An internal list reveals the donors who pledged to build the White House Ballroom, showing a total of $333 million in private funds. The data includes 67 donations of more than $10,000, with at least $77 million coming from donors who requested anonymity.
The list, obtained by “The Washington Post“, contains 57 individuals, companies and foundations named as donors with pledges of at least $100,000. Nvidia and Apple are among the largest contributors, with $25 million each. The Adelson family has pledged the same amount, and Charles Ergen, co-founder and chairman of Dish Network, is also listed with a $25 million pledge.
Other donors include Palantir's Shyam Sankar with $10 million, Microsoft and Comcast with $10 million and $7.5 million, respectively, and the Winklevoss twins with more than $5 million worth of bitcoin. More than three-quarters of all the money has come from donors with pledges of at least $5 million.
Donors with business interests over power
The documents do not prove a connection between the donations and specific decisions by the Trump administration. But they show that companies or executives of companies with federal contracts during his second term are linked to about half of the money raised.
The donations are channeled through the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit organization that transfers them to the government and a White House account controlled by the president. An agreement between the government and the foundation requires that the anonymity of donors be preserved to the extent permitted by law.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle described the donors as "a broad range of great American companies and generous individuals who are contributing to making the National Mall better for generations." He said critics would object even if U.S. taxpayers paid for the repairs, and threatened to prosecute those responsible for the leak of the documents.
Post-pardon donation and regulatory decisions
One of the earliest pledges is from Isabella Herrera, daughter of international banker Julio Herrera Velutini. She pledged $2.5 million, with the first installment of $835,000 due in October 2025. In January, Trump pardoned her father, who had previously been indicted by the Justice Department on bribery charges. Neither Herrera Velutini nor his daughter have commented on the figures.
Charles Ergen is listed with two pledges of $12.5 million each. This comes after the Federal Communications Commission dropped its investigation into EchoStar and later federal regulators approved the sale of some of the company’s licenses to AT&T. Ergen and EchoStar declined to comment.
A Rocket subsidiary made a $10 million commitment three weeks after the Federal Housing Finance Agency approved Mr. Cooper’s acquisition. Rocket said the donation and regulatory decisions were unrelated.
Project not yet fully funded
The records show Salesforce is tied to three $1 million commitments — one from CEO Marc Benioff and two from the company. Between them, the Pentagon has awarded Salesforce a contract worth up to $5.6 billion through 2035. The Pentagon says political connections and outside interests do not factor into funding decisions.
The $333 million raised is below Trump’s stated goal of $400 million. In March, the estimate for the entire complex, which includes the ballroom, office space and underground military facility, reached $600 million. Some of the construction costs have already been covered by public funds.
Hard Rock International, Tether America and Paolo Tiramani are not on the list, even though the White House has publicly identified them as donors. None of the three parties, nor the Trust for the National Mall and the White House have explained why their names are absent from internal records.
Sources: washingtonpost.com