What donors to Trump’s White House ballroom stand to gain from the federal government

Dozens of executives and businesses have donated to fund the construction of President Trump’s $300 million ballroom as many consider favorable policy, reduced oversight or approval of major deals from the White House.

Donors to the ballroom — which will replace the East Wing of the White House — include big tech companies, defense contractors and other major corporations. The White House did not disclose the amount of donations from each company. Mr. Trump said construction would be financed by private donations and his own money, not taxpayers’ money.

Speaking to reporters Friday evening as he left for a trip to Asia, Mr. Trump said “more than $350 million” had been raised so far.

CBS News reviewed a list of 37 donors provided by the White House, which included tech companies like Google and Amazon and crypto companies like Ripple and Coinbase. Others who contributed to the project include Nvidia, Susquehanna International Group and ExtremityCare, according to people familiar with the matter. The president hosted a dinner last week to thank donors, although not everyone at the dinner contributed.

When asked if these donations presented any conflicts, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote in a statement to CBS News: “The same critics who falsely claim there are conflicts of interest would complain if taxpayers footed the bill.”

“Donors to the White House Ballroom Project represent a wide range of America’s leading businesses and generous individuals, all of whom are helping to make the People’s House better for generations to come,” she added.

Here’s a closer look at what some donors and diners stand to gain from federal politics or have already received from the administration.

Big Tech and telecommunications

Tech giants Google, Palantir, Amazon and Microsoft, as well as wireless carrier T-Mobile, were among the donors listed by the White House.

Google-owned YouTube agreed to pay $22 million to the ballroom project as part of a legal settlement in a case Mr. Trump brought against the company for temporarily removing it from the platform after the 2021 Capitol riot.

Software company Palantir received more than $800 million in several government contracts in fiscal year 2025, more than in any previous year, according to federal contracts data. The Trump administration also made Palantir a key player in managing and consolidating data on Americans across federal agencies, The New York Times reported.

Amazon and Microsoft also each received hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts, according to federal data.

T-Mobile could benefit from a cellphone and cellular services company tied to the Trump Organization, something House Democrats have expressed conflict of interest concerns about. The company is not run by the Trump Organization, but licenses the president’s name. The Trump Mobile network says it runs on Liberty Mobile Wireless, a virtual mobile network operator that leases bandwidth from major carriers like T-Mobile.

In a statement to CBS News, a T-Mobile spokesperson said the company made a donation to National Mall Trustwhich manages donations for the ballroom, but has “no role in the use of these funds or in decisions related to the construction of the ballroom.” The spokesperson did not comment on the Trump-linked cellular company.

Representatives from Nvidia, one of the world’s leading developers of advanced microchips, were among dozens of donors invited to Mr. Trump’s appreciation dinner, according to a guest list obtained by CBS News.

The Trump administration granted to Nvidia export licenses to send certain chips to China in exchange for 15% of revenue, as the company’s CEO pushes for greater access to the Chinese market. Nvidia is also awaiting full administration approval to ship hundreds of thousands of its artificial intelligence chips to the United Arab Emirates each year, although the administration gave the company permission to export to U.S. companies operating in the Gulf country earlier this month, according to Bloomberg.

Jeff Yass, co-founder of trading company Susquehanna International Group and investor in TikTok, was also on the guest list. Yass has donated more than $16 million to super PAC MAGA Inc. this year. During his first term, Mr. Trump sought to ban TikTok, but he reversed course this year by signing an order last month for TikTok to continue operating in the United States with a list of American investors. Meanwhile, Yass’ wealth has increased by billions of dollars this year, according to estimates by Bloomberg and Forbes.

Cryptocurrency

Some of the biggest names in crypto have also donated to Mr. Trump’s ballroom, according to the White House donor list. The Trump administration has pledged to make the United States the “crypto capital of the world,” as has the president’s family. billion on their own crypto projects.

A company spokesperson confirmed that Coinbase, the largest US cryptocurrency exchange, had made a donation. The company is seeking approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer blockchain-based stocks. It is also the subject of an SEC investigation launched under former President Joe Biden into whether it misreported its user numbers in its past financial filings, The New York Times reported. Earlier this year, the SEC withdrew a separate lawsuit against Coinbase, shortly after the company donated $1 million to Mr. Trump’s inauguration.

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, twin brothers who own crypto exchange Gemini, also helped pay for the event space. In February, the SEC closed a long-running investigation into their crypto exchange, Cameron Winklevoss announced on X, after the Winklevoss twins donated more than $2 million to MAGA Inc. a month prior. In July, the brothers successfully pressured Mr. Trump to withdraw his initial nominee to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates crypto, according to Politico.

Crypto company Ripple also donated. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has openly expressed his support for the current administration’s cryptocurrency policies, and Mr. Trump has promoted his coin, XRP, as one of the coins that a planned and controlled crypto reserve by the US government should include.

Defense and Federal Contractors

Lockheed-Martin donate more than $10 million for Mr. Trump’s ballroom, according to company sources. The defense contractor typically receives tens of billions a year in federal contracts.

Booz Allen Hamilton also donated to the president’s event space. The consulting firm typically generates 98% of its annual revenue from contracts with the U.S. government, but it has suffered from the Trump administration’s crackdown on federal spending. Its government contracts shrank 20% in fiscal 2025 and its stock price plunged 46% since Mr. Trump’s re-election.

Media

Comcast has expressed interest in acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery, Bloomberg reported, but its merger would face federal scrutiny. The Justice Department blocked a Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger in 2015 because it would have made the conglomerate a “go-to gatekeeper” for internet services. Comcast is not historically favored by the president; In April, on Truth Social, Mr. Trump called Comcast, which owns NBC and is in the process of splitting from MSNBC, “a disgrace to the integrity of broadcasting.”

Medical

The CEOs of biotechnology company ExtremityCare were on the guest list at the appreciation dinner. The company, which makes expensive medical products made from human cells and tissues, has already donated $5 million to MAGA Inc. Shortly after that donation, the Trump administration decided to delay a Biden administration plan to limit Medicare coverage of the company’s “skin replacement” bandages.

CBS News has requested comment from the companies listed in this article.