Open Veils · Answer
How was the new Trump ballroom funded?
A leaked internal spreadsheet reveals ~$333 million logged from roughly 57 major donors — including Apple and Nvidia at $25 million each — with several donors who requested anonymity not publicly disclosed. The fundraising structure itself involves a contract granting the Trust a 2.5% fee on collected funds, yielding an estimated $9 million to the Trust. Critics note that many donors simultaneously held active government contracts or regulatory matters, raising structural conflict-of-interest questions even absent documented quid pro quo.
Evidence
- Per NPR (October 2026), an internal fundraising spreadsheet obtained by reporter Blaskey shows approximately $333 million in logged donations from roughly 57 principal donors — the top gifts being $25 million each from Apple and Nvidia.
- The fundraising mechanism was formalized through a 14-page contract, obtained by Public Citizen and reported by CBS News (April 2026), signed in October 2025 between the White House and the Trust.
- According to AP News (June 2026), Democrats raised alarms that taxpayer funds from Trump's tax bill may also be supplementing the project, while a White House spokesman cited a combined $400 million figure from Trump and donors.
- Critically, the spreadsheet includes companies that requested anonymity and were never included in the White House's own public donor release.
- It authorizes the Trust to collect all project costs and grants it a 2.5% fee — dropping to 2% above $200 million — amounting to roughly $9 million in Trust compensation.