WASHINGTON, Oct 15 (Reuters) – Nvidia and Apple each committed $25 million for US President Donald Trump’s planned White House ballroom, according to a Washington Post report on Thursday that showed $333 million in private donations for the project.
The Adelson family, longtime financial supporters of Trump and his Republican Party, committed $25 million as well, as did billionaire Charles Ergen, co-founder and chairman of telecommunications company Dish Network, the report added.
The president himself is not on the list, according to the Post.
Reuters has not verified the report. The White House said it would not release information about the donors, which spokesman Davis Ingle said “represent a wide array of great American companies.”
“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,” Ingle told Reuters.
Nvidia said it was proud to make a donation to a nonpartisan trust that serves Americans. “As an American company, our support for the United States is paramount, and independent of any business interests,” a spokesperson said.
Apple declined to comment.
The scale of the ballroom project and the administration’s handling of fundraising and disclosures have drawn criticism from watchdog groups and legal experts, who say it raises questions about transparency, donor influence and adherence to longstanding ethics and oversight norms.
Trump initially said he and wealthy donors would pay for the estimated $400 million project, but he later unsuccessfully sought $1 billion from Congress for an underground bunker and security features to harden the facility.
The Post reported that the “vast majority of the funds raised came from companies and wealthy individuals with interests before the federal government” and that half the total came from companies or executives of firms that have had federal government contracts in Trump’s second White House term.
The planned ballroom is among several projects Trump is pursuing in his efforts to remake Washington with sweeping, unilateral changes that his opponents have challenged in court and called a power grab.
The US Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling in August, allowed Trump to continue construction of the ballroom while he challenges a judicial order that would halt much of the development. In a dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts said the project was “likely unlawful.”
The ballroom, which Trump has said will seat 1,000 guests, has faced public backlash. Preservationists and opponents say Trump exceeded his authority by demolishing the historic East Wing, which housed the first lady’s offices and the White House movie theater, to make room for the structure.
Trump says a planned 90,000-square-foot (8,360-square-meter) White House ballroom will include bomb shelters, medical facilities, defenses against drones and missiles and other security features. Confronted with criticism of the project, his administration now says the facility is needed for national security, an argument the president has also made about a proposed triumphal arch.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Doina Chiacu in Washington, Stephen Nellis in San Francisco and Kanjyik Ghosh in Barcelona; Editing by Nia Williams)
Comments