WASHINGTON – When President Donald Trump launched an inventory of personal donors paying for the development of his 90,000-square-foot, $300 million White Home ballroom — and the demolition of the East Wing — he left numerous questions unanswered.
How a lot cash did these billionaires and company CEOs give? Who approached them about donating within the first place? Are they anticipating one thing in return? Are they actively lobbying the White Home for different perks for his or her companies or themselves?
Was this even a whole listing of all of the donors behind the ballroom venture? (It was not.)
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the highest Democrat on the Senate Everlasting Subcommittee on Investigations, posed these inquiries to greater than 30 of the identified donors financing Trump’s ballroom venture, in a collection of letters that went out in late October. He gave them till early November to reply.
The donors’ response letters, obtained by HuffPost, are remarkably evasive. The 21 responses ― two got here from contractors on the venture, the remainder from firms that donated ― nearly universally don’t reply Blumenthal’s questions, as a substitute boasting about their philanthropy and love of America.
Blumenthal posed very particular questions, like, “What amount did you contribute to the White House Ballroom project?” and “Please list all White House personnel or other representatives or associates of the Trump Administration or Trump family with whom you have spoken about the donation.”
A number of the responses had been laughable. Apple, Amazon and Meta, who’re among the many Large Tech firms financing Trump’s venture, stated their assist for the ballroom is solely one other instance of them donating cash to a very good trigger. None truly stated how a lot cash they gave, or who they labored with in Trump’s orbit to make the donations occur.
Meta unironically recommended it’s financing the ballroom venture as a result of it cares about preserving the White Home grounds — as Trump simply razed all the East Wing to make method for his venture. (HuffPost obtained copies of the letters on the situation to indirectly quote them.)
Different donors, like cryptocurrency firms Coinbase and Ripple and main authorities contractor Booz Allen, equally claimed their donations are motivated by civic pleasure and a dedication to defending the White Home. Booz Allen specifically hailed the White Home as an emblem of American democracy and stated it’s proud to assist assist the constructing, a part of which, once more, Trump simply utterly demolished.
The one firm that divulged its donation in its letter was Google, and it solely did so as a result of it’s already been reported that it’s donating $22 million as a part of a settlement the corporate reached with Trump after he was banned from YouTube, owned by Google’s mother or father firm Alphabet, after he incited the Jan. 6, 2021, rebellion.
Most of those donors insisted they’re following all legal guidelines and aren’t giving cash to the ballroom venture in alternate for different perks from Trump.
Some firms, together with Comcast and BlackRock, claimed they blindly donated cash to the Belief for the Nationwide Mall, the nonprofit companion to the Nationwide Park Service that accepts non-public cash for repairs and upgrades to nationwide monuments and grounds, and had no say of their funds going particularly towards Trump’s ballroom.
Others, like Nvidia and the Betty Wold Johnson Basis, confirmed they donated to the belief particularly to help Trump’s venture.
One firm that received’t be kicking in cash for the White Home ballroom is JPMorgan Chase. Its CEO, Jamie Dimon, stated final month on CNN that the corporate has loads of authorities contracts inside and out of doors of the U.S., and it must be cautious about how its preparations are perceived and the way a future Justice Division could cope with them.
“We’re quite conscious of risks we bear by doing anything that looks like, you know, buying favors or anything like that,” Dimon stated.
Trump’s ballroom venture is unpopular with the general public. An ABC Information/Washington Publish survey from late October discovered simply 28% of Individuals backed the ballroom’s building, with 56% opposed.
