Washington Post Obtains Donor List: $333 Million Raised for Trump Ballroom, and Trump Is Not on It

A list of donors to President Trump's White House ballroom puts names and dollar figures on a fundraising effort that was, until now, mostly opaque. The Washington Post obtained an internal spreadsheet used to track contributions and published its findings today, Oct. 15.

The spreadsheet contains the source, date and amount of all 67 donations above $10,000 recorded as of late last month. Together they total $333 million from private donors, a figure that aligns with the administration's public statements.

Who gave what

Four donors sit at the top at $25 million each: Nvidia, Apple, the Adelson family, and Charles Ergen, co-founder and chairman of Dish Network.

Nearly every other major tech company is also on the list for millions apiece, the Post found. They include Microsoft, Meta, Palantir, Google, Amazon and Cisco. BlackRock, Lockheed Martin, Coinbase and Gemini gave millions too.

The White House named 37 donors last October but never disclosed amounts. Additional internal records indicate at least $77 million came from donors who asked to stay anonymous. The list does not include in-kind contributions.

Some donors wrote big checks. Others set up installment plans that are still being paid off.

Trump is not on the list

Trump himself does not appear. Days after demolition of the old East Wing began last year, he said the project was "being paid for a hundred percent by me and some friends of mine."

The list shows no gift from him. One outlet's emphasis on his absence does not establish whether he will contribute later or paid for anything outside the reported list.

The $333 million also falls well short of the project's reported $600 million price tag. The Post found that taxpayers could end up covering roughly half of the final cost.

How the money moves

Ordinary political giving requires public disclosure and falls under campaign finance rules. Ballroom donations do not. They go to a nonprofit, which channels the money to the government and into a White House account the president directly controls.

The Post reports that independent experts and scholars have expressed alarm at the potential for influence buying and coerced giving.

About half the total came from companies or executives whose firms held federal contracts during Trump's second term, according to the Post. The vast majority of the money came from companies and wealthy people with interests before the federal government.

Timing questions, and what is and isn't established

The Post says its reporting does not establish a connection between the donation commitments and favorable actions by the administration. Corporations with business before Washington give to presidential causes of every stripe, and a gift near a government decision is not proof of a trade.

But the timelines are drawing scrutiny. The Post says the list includes previously undisclosed contributors who have benefited from regulatory decisions, government contracts and, in one case, a pardon for a family member.

On Ergen: Brendan Carr, the FCC chairman, threatened last May to revoke EchoStar's licenses over its failure to upgrade its cellphone network. A month later, Bloomberg reported, Ergen met with Carr and Trump in a closed-door meeting where his political donations were discussed. Ergen then negotiated a sale of some licenses to AT&T, and Carr dropped the investigation the following month. Months later, with the sale still pending, Ergen gave $12.5 million, followed soon after by a second $12.5 million, according to the list.

On Nvidia: it became a top contributor in October 2025, nearly three months after it struck a pact with Trump to sell advanced microchips to China despite national security concerns. The documents show Nvidia requested that its $25 million donation be kept anonymous. Nvidia spokesperson John Rizzo said the company's "support for the United States is paramount, and independent of any business interests." The Post's reporting does not establish a connection between the two.

Engadget, summarizing the Post's findings, also notes smaller entries. Joseph Popolo Jr. gave $1 million just after being chosen as ambassador to the Netherlands and did not report it. Kelly Loeffler and her husband pledged $5 million. Brandon Lutnick, son of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, gave stock worth more than $2.5 million.

The White House and the watchdogs

White House spokesman Davis Ingle declined to discuss individual donations. He described the contributors as "a wide array of great American companies." The White House has said it will not release further information about donors.

Watchdog groups see it differently. One government watchdog said Big Tech "bankrolled it fully expecting a return on their investment." Sacha Haworth of the Tech Oversight Project said: "Under Donald Trump, there's a two-tiered justice system. Big Tech plays by a different set of rules because they bought their way in." Those are the groups' assertions, not findings by any investigator.

A Supreme Court ruling in August allowed construction to proceed while Trump challenges a judicial order that would halt much of the development.

The open question is disclosure. The White House has declined to publish amounts, donors or the identities behind the $77 million in anonymous giving. Whether Congress or anyone else will ask for those records is unresolved.