Who’s Financing Trump’s Gilded Ballroom? Weapons Makers, Tech Giants, Private Equity, and More

Amazon, Apple, Lockheed Martin, Google, Altria, and Union Pacific Railroad are among the dozens of corporations bankrolling US President Donald Trump’s ongoing effort to replace the East Wing of the White House—which is now reduced to rubble—with a gaudy, 90,000-square-foot ballroom.

The White House released the list of donors on Thursday as the expected price tag of the project grew to $300 million.

Watchdogs said the ballroom represents yet another way in which Trump is inviting corporate influence peddling. Earlier reporting from CBS News indicated that some donors could have their names etched on the walls of the gold-encrusted ballroom.

“Demolishing the East Wing is bad enough, but carving the names of corporations and billionaires into the White House walls would mark a permanent scar on the People’s House,” said Jon Golinger, a democracy advocate with Public Citizen, said in a statement Thursday.

“Money buys access and influence and, in this case, a long-term presence on the White House wall,” Golinger added. “This is easily understood and blatantly disgusting.”

Below is the full list of names, including individuals and corporations, provided by the White House:

Altria Group
Amazon
Apple
Booz Allen Hamilton
Caterpillar
Coinbase
Comcast
José and Emilia Fanjul
Hard Rock International
Google
HP
Lockheed Martin
Meta
Micron Technology
Microsoft
NextEra Energy
Palantir Technologies
Ripple
Reynolds American
T-Mobile
Tether America
Union Pacific Railroad
Adelson Family Foundation
Stefan E. Brodie
Betty Wold Johnson Foundation
Charles and Marissa Cascarilla
Edward and Shari Glazer
Harold Hamm
Benjamin Leon Jr.
The Lutnick family
The Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Konstantin Sokolov
Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher
Paolo Tiramani
Cameron Winklevoss
Tyler Winklevoss

Economist Paul Krugman wrote Friday that “it may seem like a trivial story, but it’s a highly visual metaphor for the way MAGA is tearing down almost everything good about our country.”

“In true Trumpian style, this act of vandalism is being paid for by large corporate donors—mostly tech and crypto companies—seeking to buy Trump’s favor,” wrote Krugman. “I am sure there will be a Trump meme-coin dispenser installed on every table.”


Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.


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