What to know about the donors paying for Trump’s ballroom

As demolition crews this week bulldozed the White House’s East Wing to exchange it with an enormous ballroom, President Donald Trump has emphasized that the dramatic modifications will come at “zero cost to the American Taxpayer.”

Instead, the donors choosing up the tab embrace a few of the nation’s greatest companies, together with many who’ve enterprise earlier than the federal authorities, together with many longtime supporters of the president, in accordance to a NCS assessment of a donor checklist launched by the Trump administration.

Trump has been recruiting donors for the building venture for months, displaying off renderings and scale fashions to Oval Office guests. Now estimated to price $300 million, the work is being funded by non-public, tax-deductible donations routed by way of the nonprofit Trust for the National Mall.

The president has stated he’ll personally pay for a few of the venture, however the White House hasn’t specified how a lot. At least one donation of $22 million from Google was made on “behalf” of Trump as a part of a authorized settlement over the president being banned from YouTube in 2021, courtroom paperwork present.

The ballroom donors have been feted at a White House dinner final week. Now that the demolition has begun, right here’s who’s paying for the overhaul of the nation’s most well-known residence.

Miriam Adelson, a billionaire who made her fortune in casinos alongside her late husband Sheldon and has been a significant Trump donor, runs this philanthropic basis. Trump awarded Adelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018.

Previously often called Phillip Morris, tobacco big Altria Group is the vendor of Virginia Slims, Marlboro and Parliament cigarettes in the United States.

Amazon billionaire founder Jeff Bezos told the world he was “optimistic” about a second Trump presidency late final 12 months, saying he appreciated his “energy” round decreasing laws. The president known as out Amazon publicly earlier this 12 months when he realized that the e-commerce retailer was considering displaying tariff costs for consumers, which the firm stated it could not do.

Apple CEO Tim Cook served on Trump’s American Workforce Policy Advisory Board throughout his first time period. He attended the president’s 2025 inauguration together with different tech leaders, and this summer time presented Trump with a personalized Pure gold-and-glass statuette in the Oval Office whereas asserting plans to make investments $100 billion in US jobs and suppliers.

The late Betty Wold Johnson was a philanthropist and mom of the two homeowners of the New York Jets, who’re the basis’s co-presidents. One of her sons, Woody Johnson, served as ambassador to the United Kingdom throughout Trump’s first time period.

A serious federal contractor, Booz Allen Hamilton primarily supplies expertise and consulting providers and takes in billions in annual income.

Stefan Brodie co-founded the chemical manufacturing firm Purolite. Brodie, who was found guilty of violating American sanctions on Cuba in the early 2000s, was denied pardon by former President Joe Biden in 2023. It’s unclear if he has petitioned Trump for a pardon.

Charles and Marissa Cascarilla

Charles Cascarilla is the co-founder and CEO of blockchain agency Paxos Trust Company, which supplies digital asset infrastructure to monetary establishments.

The Texas-based Caterpillar manufactures building and mining tools and provides it to the US army and different authorities companies. During Trump’s first time period, the Department of Justice dropped a criminal investigation into Caterpillar for allegedly dodging taxes days after Trump appointed the firm’s former lawyer, Bill Barr, as lawyer basic. Barr stated he would recuse himself from points involving Caterpillar or different former shoppers.

Coinbase, one among America’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, was based in 2012 by CEO Brian Armstrong. The company, which went public in 2021 with a valuation of about $100 billion, helps customers purchase, promote and retailer cryptocurrencies. The Securities and Exchange Commission sued the firm in 2023 for allegedly performing as an unregistered dealer, however the Trump administration dropped the lawsuit earlier this 12 months. Coinbase had stated it was not in violation of any legislation.

One of the world’s greatest telecommunications corporations, the conglomerate owns NBCUniversal, which incorporates movie studios akin to Universal Pictures and DreamWorks, cable channels akin to CNBC and Bravo, in addition to Peacock, a streaming platform.

J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul

Jose “Pepe” Fanjul and his spouse Emilia are a part of a Cuban-American household that owns an enormous sugar conglomerate. The Biden administration had beforehand blocked an organization partially owned by the Fanjul household from delivery sugar to the US over allegations of compelled labor practices, which the firm denied. The Trump administration lifted that block in March.

Edward and Shari Glazer

The Glazers are a part of the prolonged household that owns the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a majority share in the English soccer workforce Manchester United. Edward Glazer is the co-chairman of the Bucs and oversees actual property acquisitions for the household firm, First Allied Corporation, according to Forbes. Shari Glazer is the founder and CEO of Kalos Labs, a consulting company that advises and strategizes international manufacturers on blockchain applied sciences, NFTs and cryptocurrency.

Google and its guardian firm Alphabet have joined Trump administration initiatives to promote AI training, and CEO Sundar Pichai praised the administration’s investments in AI at a White House occasion final month. Google-owned YouTube agreed to pay $22 million in direction of Trump’s ballroom venture as a part of an agreement settling authorized claims introduced by Trump over his removing from the video platform.

Harold Hamm is the billionaire founding father of Continental Resources, a pure fuel and petroleum manufacturing firm based mostly in Oklahoma City. Considered a pioneer in hydraulic fracking, Hamm is one among the richest oil males in America and amongst the richest males in the world, in accordance to Forbes.

Hard Rock International is owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida and features a international chain of theme-bar eating places, casinos, motels and museums. Hard Rock International in 2017 purchased an Atlantic City, New Jersey, on line casino that was as soon as owned by Trump. It re-opened the following 12 months as Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City.

HP Inc. is a multinational info expertise firm based mostly in Palo Alto, California, primarily producing printers, printing provides, and private computer systems. CEO Enrique Lores attended a White House roundtable in September, in accordance to his LinkedIn.

The Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation

Isaac Perlmutter offered Marvel Entertainment to The Walt Disney Company in 2009. Perlmutter and his spouse, Laura, have supported healthcare and training initiatives by way of their basis, together with a greater than $50 million donation to NYU’s Langone Medical Center earmarked for most cancers analysis.

Benjamin Leon Jr. is a Cuban-American entrepreneur who founded a sequence of healthcare facilities in the Miami space. In January, Trump nominated Leon to be US Ambassador to Spain.

The Pentagon’s largest aerospace and protection contractor, Lockheed Martin tasks greater than $74 billion in gross sales this 12 months. In an announcement about its ballroom donation, a spokesperson for the firm stated it’s “grateful for the opportunity to help bring the President’s vision to reality and make this addition to the People’s House, a powerful symbol of the American ideals we work to defend every day.”

Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher

Kelly Loeffler, a Trump cupboard member who leads the Small Business Administration, was beforehand appointed US senator representing Georgia in 2020 and later misplaced her seat to Raphael Warnock in a run-off election. Her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is the CEO and founding father of Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange.

Howard Lutnick joined the Trump administration as Secretary of Commerce after many years as CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a monetary providers agency. Lutnick handed the reins of the firm to his 27-year-old son, and his different son additionally works at Cantor.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg as soon as banned President Trump from Facebook and Instagram, and the president as soon as threatened him with legal investigations. But since the 2024 election, Zuckerberg has taken steps to endear himself to the president and his MAGA supporters. Earlier this 12 months, the social media big ditched its reality checkers and named Dana White, the Ultimate Fighting Championship president and a Trump ally, to its board. Zuckerberg additionally dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

A US-based maker of superior reminiscence chips, Micron Technology was lauded by the White House earlier this 12 months for a $200 billion investment in the United States, together with the building of a brand new facility in Idaho.

Microsoft has been considerably quieter than different tech corporations about its help of President Trump and his administration. CEO Satya Nadella didn’t sit entrance row throughout Trump’s inauguration, unlike Meta’s Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Bezos and Google’s Pichai. Nadella has met with Trump, together with attending a tech dinner at the White House final month, shortly earlier than the president known as for the firm to hearth a former Biden official who serves as its chief of world affairs.

NextEra Energy is a significant producer of photo voltaic and wind energy. The firm was damage by the elimination of unpolluted vitality tax credit in the president’s landmark tax and spending cuts invoice. CEO John Ketchum has said he agrees with the administration’s concentrate on bringing jobs again to America however criticized Trump’s efforts to enhance the coal business.

Founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel and several other associates, the knowledge analytics agency provides services for several government agencies, together with Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service and the Army. Thiel has been a longtime supporter of the Republican Party, a good friend of Vice President JD Vance and an early supporter of President Trump.

One of the nation’s largest tobacco producers, Reynolds American’s subsidiaries manufacture cigarette manufacturers together with Newport and Camel. The firm additionally sells e-cigarettes.

Ripple helped launch XRP, one among 5 cryptocurrencies Trump has stated must be included in a brand new US crypto strategic reserve. The firm’s CEO shared a photograph alongside Trump on X earlier this 12 months, saying he had “a great dinner” with the president.

Stephen A. Schwarzman is a GOP megadonor and the co-founder of world funding agency Blackstone. He served as the chairman of a enterprise advisory council throughout Trump’s first time period. Schwarzman introduced in 2022 that he would not again Trump for a second time period, however reversed course in 2024, citing concern with the rise of antisemitism in the US.

Konstantin Sokolov is the founding father of a personal fairness agency targeted on tech, finance and infrastructure, a significant shareholder in Armenia’s largest telecom firm and the chairman of an undersea cable initiative to carry vitality and telecommunications between Africa and Europe.

One of the largest wi-fi carriers in the nation, T-Mobile stated in an announcement that its donation wasn’t solely earmarked for the ballroom. “Ahead of America’s 250th Anniversary, T-Mobile donated to the Trust for the National Mall, which partners with the National Park Service to restore and enrich the historic landmarks that define our nation’s capital, such as the White House ballroom,” the firm stated. “T-Mobile has no role in the use of those funds or decisions related to the construction of the ballroom.”

The cryptocurrency firm Tether has a multi-billion-dollar valuation and claims to have 500 million customers worldwide. The agency, which is headquartered in El Salvador, hired former Trump administration crypto official Bo Hines to lead its US growth earlier this 12 months.

An industrial designer, Paolo Tiramani co-founded a modular houses firm, BOXABL, together with his son. A donor-advised fund created by the firm donated $10 million in most popular inventory to the Trust for the National Mall, which helps Trump’s ballroom initiative.

One of the nation’s largest railroad corporations, Union Pacific operates greater than 32,000 miles of observe in 23 states.

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss

The Winklevoss twins grew to become a few of the first cryptocurrency billionaires after utilizing a multi-million-dollar authorized settlement from Mark Zuckerberg to put money into Bitcoin greater than a decade in the past. The brothers additionally based the cryptocurrency trade Gemini and an funding firm that focuses on tech and blockchain start-ups.

NCS’s Emily Condon, Rob Kuznia, and Logan Schiciano contributed reporting.