Copyright Newsweek
Construction began this week on a new ballroom that President Donald Trump is adding to the White House, but his administration has not released a full list of the donors funding the project. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that the ballroom was being “paid for 100 percent by me and some friends of mine, donors. The government is paying absolutely nothing.” Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment via an email sent outside regular business hours. Why It Matters In July, the White House said Trump and other donors had committed to donating $200 million in construction costs to build the 90,000-square-foot ballroom and that no public money would be spent on it. The White House did not say how much of his own money the president would contribute or provide a list of the donors and the amounts they had committed. On Wednesday, Trump appeared to increase the estimated cost of the ballroom, saying the price tag was “about $300 million.” The funding model has raised ethics concerns and questions about conflicts of interest, with some experts saying it may amount to paying for access to the administration. What To Know Last week, the White House hosted a dinner for some of the donors. Attendees at the dinner, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, included representatives from companies such as Lockheed Martin, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Google, Amazon, Coinbase and Palantir. Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, oil tycoon Harold Hamm and crypto entrepreneurs Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss were also on the guest list. Newsweek has contacted the companies for comment via email. Some of the money for the project is also set to come from the settlement Trump received from a 2021 lawsuit he filed against Alphabet-owned YouTube over the suspension of his account following the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Court documents said Trump had directed $22 million to be “contributed, on his behalf, to the Trust for the National Mall, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt entity dedicated to restoring, preserving, and elevating the National Mall, to support the construction of the White House State Ballroom.” Paolo Tiramani, the CEO of the housing startup BOXABL and one of the attendees of the dinner, donated $10 million in stock to the Trust for the National Mall, ABC News reported. What People Are Saying President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday: “For more than 150 years, every President has dreamt about having a Ballroom at the White House to accommodate people for grand parties, State Visits, etc. I am honored to be the first President to finally get this much-needed project underway—with zero cost to the American Taxpayer! The White House Ballroom is being privately funded by many generous Patriots, Great American Companies, and, yours truly. This Ballroom will be happily used for Generations to come!” Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, told The New York Times last week that the dinner “shows what the ballroom is really all about: pay to play.” He added: “Getting an invitation to the White House to a dinner because they’re contributing to the construction of this project. This is payment for access, not just to the grounds of the White House but access to the president of the United States.” What Happens Next It remains to be seen whether the White House will release a comprehensive list of donors and their contributions to the ballroom project. The White House has said the ballroom will be ready long before Trump’s term ends in January 2029.
