Summary
- White House withheld identities of some White House ballroom donors.
- Total donations toward Trump's $300 million ballroom exceed $200 million.
- Donors include major tech firms: Apple, Google, Amazon, Meta.
The government has defended the demolition of the historic East Wing to create space for Trump's pet project, partly because taxpayer money is not being used for it.
The New York Times claims that over three dozen contributions and the identities of the people and businesses supporting the initiative were left off of a White House contributor list.
The publication got a copy of a pledge form that Trump's staff has been circulating to solicit money for the ballroom, offering donors the option to keep their identity.
The newspaper claims that the White House has not revealed the identities of two healthcare corporations that are "looking to preserve or increase Medicare reimbursement for their products."
Vantive, a kidney care company, admitted to the Times that its CEO, Chris Toth, went to a donor dinner, but it did not reveal how much it gave to the ballroom. According to the publication, Extremity Care, which has previously contributed to Trump's super PAC, gave $2.5 million to the ballroom fund.
Other donors who have not yet been identified include the financial behemoth BlackRock, which Trump reportedly backed in May when it bought a share in the firm that runs ports close to the Panama Canal.
According to the Times, billionaire TikTok investor Jeff Yass was not included on the list either. He stands to gain from a Trump-backed agreement that would maintain the social media platform's operations in the United States.
The names of donors "who wish to be named publicly" were made public, according to a White House official who told the Times that they "also have the option to remain anonymous and we will honor that if that's what they choose."
The pledge form that the Times was able to obtain states that the project is called
"The President Donald J. Trump Ballroom."
Trump earlier said that he had "no plan" to call the ballroom after himself and that the rumors that he was doing so were "fake news."
Which undisclosed donors have ties to industries regulated by the White House?
Two healthcare enterprises giving to the design reportedly aim to cover or expand Medicare payment for their products. One, Extremity Care, has preliminarily bestowed to Trump’s super PAC and contributed $2.5 million to the chamber fund. Another is Vantive, an order care company whose CEO attended a patron regale.
BlackRock, a major fiscal investment establishment, is an undisclosed patron. It has significant investments and interests affected by government regulation, similar as in anchorages near the Panama Canal. Big tech companies similar as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Palantir, numerous listed benefactors but some backing remains undisclosed have entered economic civil contracts and nonsupervisory favors.
Benefactors include heavy machinery maker Caterpillar, defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin, and renewable mileage NextEra Energy, all crucial stakeholders in government policy and contracts.