U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (not pictured) at Trump Turnberry golf club on July 28, 2025 in Turnberry, Scotland, Britain. Christopher Furlong/Pool via REUTERS
President Donald Trump’s demolition of the White House East Wing and his plan to construct a 650-person ballroom in its place have attracted deep-pocketed donors, some of whom are now facing ethical concerns, or condemnation for supporting what many view as the needless erasure of American history and heritage.
“Apple, Amazon, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Google, Coinbase, Comcast and Meta are just some of the major companies who have made donations to build President Donald Trump’s proposed 90,000-square-foot ballroom, according to the White House,” CNN reported on Thursday.
The list of 37 names of corporations and individuals also includes HP, T-Mobile, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and family, and SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler and her spouse, Jeff Sprecher.
One name missing from the White House’s list: President Donald Trump, who initially had said he would pay for the ballroom himself. TIME magazine reported that “Trump confirmed on Monday that some of the money for the ballroom would come from his personal funds.”
On Wednesday afternoon, as ABC News reported, Trump said the ballroom would be “paid for 100% by me and some friends of mine.”
CNN senior reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere wrote: “Lots of companies with contracts and other business before the government on the list of donors to fund the president’s gold-colored ballroom.”
Critics are now blasting not only the President for demolishing the East Wing — which he had originally said would remain untouched — but also for raising pay-to-play ethics concerns, while turning their ire on the donors themselves.
Pointing to video of the demolition, veteran journalist Barbara Starr asked, “Curious….do donors to this ballroom want to be known for contributing to tearing down this piece of history? Is it good corporate PR?”
Last week, CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, wrote: “Any gifts to fund the White House ballroom need to be completely transparent so that the American people can judge for themselves what the funders are getting in return for their millions.”
Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich on Tuesday also focused on ethical concerns.
“Trump’s ballroom donors include:
-Google, whose CEO thanked Trump for ‘resolution’ of an antitrust case
-Palantir, which has lucrative contracts with ICE
-Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, who would profit from Trump’s regulatory rollbacks for private equity”
“Pay-to-play,” he concluded.
On Thursday he added, “The biggest corporate donors to Trump’s ballroom either have big federal contracts, are currently doing business with the Trump family, or have active antirust cases before the courts. Everything is for sale.”
Professor of law and former chief White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter also called it “Pay to play.”
Last week, Painter told The New York Times, “This is payment for access, not just to the grounds of the White House but access to the president of the United States.”