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Trump White House ballroom donor list revealed: Apple, Nvidia, Google among top contributors to $333 million fund
A leaked list shows Apple, Nvidia, the Adelson family and Charles Ergen gave $25 million each to Trump’s White House ballroom.
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The top donors to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project have come out. According to The Washington Post, many of the donors have had contracts with the federal government during Trump’s second term.
The list has all 67 donations above $10,000 recorded as of late last month. It shows a total of $333 million from private donors. The Post also found that at least $77 million came from donors who asked to stay anonymous.
Trump is not on the list. He said last year, days after the old East Wing was demolished: “It’s being paid for a hundred percent by me and some friends of mine.”
Top donors: who gave how much
- $25 million each: Apple, Nvidia, the Adelson family (major GOP donors) and Charles Ergen, co-founder and chairman of Dish Network
- $22 million: Google, as per Mediaite. It is linked to the $25 million settlement Trump had with YouTube after he faced a ban from the platform following the January 6 Capitol riot
- More than $20 million: The Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation Inc.
- $10 million each: Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, RHI II LLC and Palantir Technologies Inc,
- $7.5 million: Comcast
- $5 million each: Amazon, Cisco, Meta and T-Mobile
- $5 million: Small Business Administration head Kelly Loeffler and her husband Jeff Sprecher
- More than $2.5 million: Brandon Lutnick, son of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who gave stock.
- $1 million: Joseph Popolo Jr, a major GOP donor and Trump’s ambassador to the Netherlands, and his wife
Crypto companies and their investors promised more than $18 million. The biggest share came from Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who donated bitcoin valued at $5,050,018.
More than three-quarters of the money came in commitments of $5 million or more. It also said the project got dozens of small gifts, some as low as $10.
Donors with interests before the government
The Post said its reporting does not show that the donations led to any favors from the Trump administration. But it found that companies, or heads of companies, with federal contracts during Trump’s second term gave about half of the total money. Here are some of the cases:
- Nvidia: As per The Post, it became a top donor in October 2025, nearly three months after striking a pact with Trump to sell advanced microchips to China. Documents show Nvidia asked for its donation to be kept anonymous.
- Charles Ergen: FCC chair Brendan Carr told Ergen in May 2025 that the agency had begun investigating his company EchoStar. Carr dropped the probe in September. Ergen gave $12.5 million in December and another $12.5 million in February, as per the list. In May, the FCC and Justice Department approved EchoStar’s sale of some licenses to AT&T.
- Rocket: A Rocket subsidiary committed $10 million three weeks after the Federal Housing Finance Agency approved its deal to buy Mr Cooper. A Rocket spokesperson said the approvals and donation were not connected.
- Salesforce: CEO Marc Benioff and the company made $1 million commitments. In between, the Army gave Salesforce a contract worth up to $5.6 billion through 2035. A Pentagon official said: “Outside affiliations, investors, or political connections play absolutely no role in the Department’s funding decisions.”
- ServiceNow: It committed $5 million a month after the General Services Administration announced a “landmark” agreement with it. ServiceNow said its government business is “separate and unconnected to any donations we make to any cause.”
- Pardon case: Isabela Herrera, daughter of banker Julio Herrera Velutini, committed $2.5 million in September 2025. Trump pardoned Herrera Velutini in January. He had been indicted on bribery charges in 2022. Neither of them responded to requests for comment.
- Venezuelan oil: Paul Singer’s foundation committed $5 million, while Continental Resources and Harold Hamm together promised just under $5 million.
How the money moves, and what the White House says
As per The Post, people give money to a nonprofit called the Trust for the National Mall. The nonprofit then sends the money to a White House account. The president controls this account directly. Normal political donations must be made public, but these donations do not have to be.
The total money raised is less than the $400 million Trump has said he wants to raise. Democratic lawmakers have called the fundraising secretive and possibly a case of giving money in return for favors. They asked for details about the donors, but their requests were turned down.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said as per The Washington Post: “The same critics who are alleging fake conflicts of interests, would also complain if American taxpayers were footing the bill for these long-overdue renovations.”
AT&T was listed as having “pledged” $5 million. AT&T spokesperson Megan Ketterer said the company appeared to be listed in error and that it has “no plans to contribute to the Trust for the National Mall.”
