President Donald Trump said he would fund his lavish 90,000-square-foot ballroom with donations from corporations and individuals, and now they're getting their return on investment.
The New Republic's Finn Hartnett cited a recent report from the nonprofit government watchdog group, Public Citizen, that showed 14 donors to Trump's ballroom have received more than $50 billion in government contracts in the past six months. The combined total
Trump has ensured that donors' names are censored. It has made 21 corporate donors public, and journalists have revealed six more, the report said.
"Not only is the federal government enriching ballroom donors like Lockheed Martin, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Nvidia, but it is also actively getting them out of legal trouble," Hartnett said. "Sixteen of the 27 donors, including the companies listed above, are presently involved in some form of federal litigation, including antitrust reviews, securities charges, and labor disputes."
Some of those donors' charges have magically been dropped, the report claims.
"It was always pretty naive to think the ultrarich individuals donating to Donald Trump’s $400 million ballroom project were doing so out of the goodness of their hearts," Hartnett conceded.
“This is so insanely corrupt, I can’t even believe it,” Democratic Rep. Mike Levin (CA) posted on X Thursday. “You write a check, your legal problems disappear. That’s not a coincidence.”
The Justice Department was in court on Friday, seeking to appeal a court order shutting down construction, claiming that those suing to stop it lack standing. At one point, the DOJ claimed that the president had a right to tear down the Statue of Liberty and no one could sue to stop him.
Trump has claimed that he needs the ballroom for security purposes by combining his renovation of the presidential bunker with the ballroom. The district court judge, however, noted that the administration separated the bunker from the ballroom by having two different agencies in charge of it. So, the judge ruled that the "national security" claim didn't hold water.
Then, after the attempted shooting at the White House Correspondents' dinner, the White House and allies tried to make the case that taxpayers should fund $1 billion for the project.
The White House has claimed that there's no conflict of interest in corporations giving them money for the ballroom and then receiving lucrative contracts.
