The Donald Trump administration has been working hand in glove to keep names of the rich and powerful off a public list of donors to the president’s most audacious vanity project yet.
White House aides like Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt have repeatedly pledged clarity on who exactly is funding the MAGA leader’s new 90,000 ballroom. The structure is scheduled for construction on what was the site of the now-demolished building’s East Wing.
The New York Times reports that a list of donors released late last month in fact omitted several key individuals and companies that in turn stand to make billions of dollars if the MAGA administration’s policies go their way.
Among them are two healthcare companies, Vantive and Extremity Care, which have both lobbied the Trump White House to protect and expand reimbursements for their products under Medicare.
Controversial investment multinational BlackRock and billionaire financier Jeff Yass are also reported to have kicked in. BlackRock is currently gunning for Trump’s support to secure investments in the Panama Canal despite pushback from China, while Yass, a major stakeholder in TikTok’s parent company, stands to profit if the president’s bid to bring the social media giant under U.S. control proves successful.
Earlier this year, AI tech manufacturer Nvidia sparked controversy after Trump said he’d waive restrictions on the group’s computer chip exports to China in exchange for a 15% commission to the White House on future sales. Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, is reportedly also on the secret ballroom donors’ list.
While the level of overall donations has not been disclosed, the newspaper says it was able to piece together its own roster of missing names because a number of them had attended a White House dinner last month. The event was for contributors who’d offered up more than $2.5 million.
Greg Brockman, president of tech behemoth OpenAI, which has actively lobbied the MAGA administration against regulating the sector, is also understood to have attended that dinner.
Asked about the donor list last month, Press Secretary Leavitt told reporters “we have released the full list of donors thus far,” and that “the President has been incredibly transparent when it comes to this ballroom project. I would reject any notion otherwise when it comes to this.”
White House comments to the NYT would now appear to test that assertion. A spokesperson said only the names of donors “who wish to be named publicly” would be released, and that “donors also have the option to remain anonymous and we will honor that if that’s what they choose.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for a further statement on the matter.
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